I have a fun and exciting project work for you.
Introducing Flag Project
The flag project is very simple. Just take your country flag and make it using only Excel Charts.
See the example Indian Flag I have constructed:
As you can guess, Indian Flag is a bar chart with 3 bars and a 24 sliced pie chart in the middle.
(There is a minor error in the chart, the spokes of the Ashoka Chakra – the wheel in the middle are not lines, but more complex. But from Flag Project perspective, that is kind of OK. More on Indian flag symbols & design.)
Here is a de-construction of the Indian flag Excel Chart:
[click here to download the Indian Flag – Excel Chart source file]
Now it is your turn,
Go ahead and make your own country’s flag in Excel using only excel charts. You can learn some powerful charting concepts while trying this. Plus, it is fun.
Follow these simple rules,
- Don’t violate your country’s flag code. Make sure you adhere to color codes, dimensions, symbol codes of your flag when making it.
- Upload your flag as an image to a free image hosting site like flickr or skydrive (upload source excel files too if possible).
- Share the url (s) of your flag image with all of us using comments.
- Feel free to make your city / town / state / book club flags as well. Share them using comments.
All the best. 🙂
PS: Due to a small visa emergency I am going to India for few weeks. The internet access back home is a bit rustic. So I will not be able to write as often as I would like to.
PPS: For inspiration and ideas on excel charts visit Excel Combo Charts | Excel Charts sections of PHD & Peltier’s Excel Charts Pages.
9 Responses to “Show forecast values in a different color with this simple trick [charting]”
While this works in a pinch, it clearly "lightens" the colors of the entire chart. Depending on where you use this, it will be blatantly obvious that you don't know what you are doing and present a poor looking graph.
Why not separate the data into different segments when charting and have as many colors as you have data points? You might have to create a new legend and/or repeat the chart in "invisible ink", but it would be cleaner and more consistent when new or updated data becomes available.
While I think I agree that doing it "properly" via a second series is preferable, I don't necessarily agree that making the entirety of the "future" (data, gridlines, and even the axis) semi-transparent is "poor looking". I think it could be seen as adding more emphasis to the "future-ness" of the forecast data.
In short, it's another tool for the toolbox, even if it's never needed.
Simply and clever 🙂
Quick & effective, cool. thanks.
I always use the dummy series.
Nice little trick, thanks very much!
Two sets of data better. Control is much better.
You can use the same chart next month to see what is actual and what is forecast.
To use this trick, I think grid lines has to be removed, that will make the graphic much more sharp.
to be honest, i dont understand why there is needed to do this way... in this case horizontal lines will be pale as well. then why a just can't change the color of the line partly???
Great tutorial. Thanks for the tutorial!