Bar charts vs tables: when to keep the table
Published
What bar charts do well
Make comparisons easy. Reveal patterns. Highlight outliers. Compress 30 rows of data into a single visual you can read in two seconds. The eye is good at lengths; that's the whole bet.
What tables do well
Show exact values. Allow precise comparisons of small differences. Let readers look up a specific row. Show many columns at once (charts max out at 2-3 series before becoming a mess). Survive being printed and read in detail.
The hybrid
Many of the best business slides have a chart at the top with a small data table below. The chart carries the message; the table carries the precision. Readers who only need the message glance at the chart; readers who need the numbers scan the table.
A test
Ask: "What will the reader do with this?" If the answer is "compare two things," use a chart. If the answer is "find a specific value," use a table. If the answer is "both," put both on the slide.
When tables fail
When the reader has to do the chart's job in their head — picking which row is biggest from a list of 25 numbers, eyeballing differences across rows, spotting a trend in a column. That's where bar charts pay off. The bigger the dataset, the worse a table gets, and the better a chart looks.