Normalized area chart

A normalized area chart shows changes to the contribution of each category in a measure value over a time interval. Areas are highlighted in different colors and located above each other. The chart shows the percentage of areas and not their absolute value. The width of an area indicates its ratio to the total amount represented as 100%. For example, the percentage of different expenses in the total budget amount.

normalized-area-chart

Source table
Month Gasoline Rent Food Utility bills
January 2019 100 600 300 500
February 2019 150 600 250 700
March 2019 100 600 450 400
April 2019 120 600 370 510
May 2019 100 600 300 530
June 2019 130 600 310 600
July 2019 150 600 330 510
August 2019 120 600 250 550
September 2019 110 650 380 500
October 2019 120 650 300 550
November 2019 130 650 310 540
December 2019 100 650 400 550

This type of chart is used to show a change to the proportion of categories, while their totals are not critical. For example, to show how the percentage of product categories changes in the total sales amount.

normalized-area-chart-subcategory

Source table
Month Home appliances Household goods Household cleaners
January 2019 128K 55K 26K
February 2019 97K 79K 18K
March 2019 187K 105K 41K
April 2019 188K 137K 34K
May 2019 230K 121K 43K
June 2019 256K 162K 59K
July 2019 284K 206K 67K
August 2019 409K 204K 72K
September 2019 314K 209K 86K
October 2019 324K 262K 79K
November 2019 385K 238K 101K
December 2019 451K 307K 111K

Wizard sections

Wizard
section		 Description
X Dimension. You can only specify one field here. This dimension is usually a date. If this is the case, make sure to specify the Date data type for this field in the dataset. This is required for correct sorting and signature display. For better visualization, you can group dates into weeks, months, and years. For more information, see Field settings.
Y Measure. You can specify multiple measures. If you add more than one measure to a section, the Colors section will contain a dimension named Measure Names.
Colors Measure Names dimension or field that affects the color of lines. To remove Measure Names, delete measures from the Y axis.
Sorting Dimension or measure. You can use a dimension from the X and Color sections or a measure from the Y axis. This section affects the sorting of values on the X axis or areas along the Y axis. The sorting direction is marked with an icon next to the field: ascending or descending. To change the sorting direction, click the icon.
Labels Measure. Displays measure values on the chart. If multiple measures are added to the Y section, drag Measure Values to this section.
Split Dimension. Splits a chart horizontally by the selected dimension's values. The maximum number of splits per chart is 25.
Filters Dimension or measure. Used as a filter.

Creating a normalized area chart

To create a normalized area chart:

Warning

If you use a new DataLens object model with workbooks and collections:

  1. Go to the DataLens home page. In the left-hand panel, select Collections and workbooks.
  2. Open the workbook, click Create in the top-right corner, and select the appropriate object.

Follow the guide from step 4.

  1. Go to the DataLens home page.
  2. In the left-hand panel, select Charts.
  3. Click Create chart → Chart.
  4. At the top left, click Select dataset and specify the dataset to visualize.
  5. Select Normalized area chart as the chart type.
  6. Drag a dimension from the dataset to the X section. The values will be displayed in the lower part of the chart on the X axis.
  7. Drag one or more measures from the dataset to the Y section. The values will be displayed as areas along the Y axis.
  8. Drag a dimension from the dataset to the Color section. Colored areas will indicate the share of an individual category in the total measure value.

Recommendations

  • If the values of the categories contain a large amount of text, try to reduce it. Then the signatures on the diagram will look more accurate. You can use string functions in the calculated fields or conditional operators CASE.

  • Do not display more than three to five areas on the chart.

  • To make it easier to track the dynamics, place the largest or most important categories closer to the chart base. To do this, drag the measure to the Sorting section or set up their order in the Y section. For example, when comparing budget expenses.

    Chart example

    normalized-area-rec-1

    To monitor the budget spending dynamics by the Gasoline category, place it close to the chart base.

    Chart example

    normalized-area-rec-2

    If there is another important category, place it by the upper boundary of the chart. This way the areas will have clear boundaries to help visually compare their values. For example, to compare Utility bills and Rent.

    Chart example

    normalized-area-rec-3

  • You can split a chart by dimension into a number of small charts that are convenient to compare to one another. To do this, drag a dimension from the dataset to the Split section.

    Chart example

    normalized-area-chart-split

  • To display the absolute values of variables, use a stacked area chart.

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Stacked area chart
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Column chart