How to Choose Suitable Diagrams for Various Scenarios

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Posted by James Freeman | 12/23/2019

Guidelines for how to choose the proper diagram to present information in various scenarios. Design diagrams in an advanced tool that comes with myriads of shapes and templates.

The benefits of diagrams for information communication is widely recognized. But with so many diagramstypesoutthere,howtofigureouttherightone?you're probably struggling with problem. So below are some guidelines to help you choose the suitable diagrams for specific scenarios.

Before selecting the diagram category, you'd better think about the following 2 questions. The answers will help you make better decisions.

What is your purpose of diagramming?
What do you want to present, processes, numbers, relationship or other?

How to Illustrate Processes Visually

Processes come in different patterns. You might want to visualize a business process or simply want to illustrate the steps to complete an action. Fortunately there are plenty of diagrams to fit various scenarios.

Flowchart - Flowchart is perfect for illustrating processes. See an example below. Steps in a process are shown with symbolic shapes, and the flow of the process is indicated by arrows connecting the symbols. Flowcharts can help you see whether the steps of a process are logical, uncover problems or miscommunications, define the boundaries of a process, and develop a common base of knowledge about a process.

What is the Best Graphic for Brainstorm

Brainstorm on a topic can involve many ideas and suggestions. The process becomes more complicated when more people participate. For this scenario, mind maps/concept maps are the optimal choices.

Mind map - the infinitely versatile creative thinking tool, used by over 250 million people worldwide and within organizations. It helps viewers to visualize, organize, and classify ideas and then better comprehend, create ideas, and build connections.

Edraw helps you easily create colorful mind maps to print or share with others. Almost no learning curve. Businesses, universities enterprises can all benefit from mind maps.

Which Diagram is Suitable for Identifying Defects

To find out defects, it is necessary to display the causes and effect. Fishbone diagrams help you brainstorm within a well-defined structure in order to sort your ideas into useful categories. It is a simple tool that allows quick and effective root causes to be understood, in the pursuit of defects and corrective actions. View extensive fishbone diagrams in Edraw.

What Diagrams Fit for Relationship Demonstration

If you want to show your family members, a family tree is appropriate. For an enterprise especially large organization, think about organizational chart.

Family Tree - the easiest way to organize, preserve and share your family history and show your family relationship. Draw your printable family tree in Edraw. Free and easy to use, no login required. Add photos and share with your family.

Organizational Chart - the best way to visualize and understand your workforce. It is used to illustrate hierarchical relationships, making information accessible throughout the organization with a unified, visual view of critical data.

How to Present Data Effectively

Maybe you want to tell a story from data. Maybe you want to dig out insights from statistics. Or you just want to simplify a series of number in a more understandable way for your audience. To cater all these needs, you can choose some charts as follows.

Pie Charts		Used to show percentages. Limit the slices to 4-6 and contrast the most important slice either with color or by exploding the slice. View some vector pie chart examples.
Column Charts		Suitable for showing changes in quantity over time or comparison of different categories. It works best with 4-8 bars. Refer to some featured column chart examples.
Bar Charts		Good at comparing quantities. For example, comparing figures between four different countries. You may like Edraw's ready-to-use bar chart examples.
Line Charts		Used to demonstrate trends. For example, a simple line chart can show that the sales keep going up. The trend is good. When presenting, show an uprising arrow later to underscore the point: The future looks good! Check out some creative and attractive line graph templates.
Spider Charts		Provides a view of data comparison in multivariate data when there are many categories to compare. Some vector spider chart examples are available in Edraw.