Create interactive line charts to educate your audience

Line charts are useful in many different fields. Any time you want to share how different data categories performed over the same period of time, a line chart is ideal. Line charts are used in finance, science, mathematics, marketing, business, and more, and are great for creating WOW moments. 

A typical line chart could show the number of visitors to a site or the stock price of a company changing over time. They can display weather patterns in multiple cities in a set time frame. Line charts can illustrate consumer spending habits across multiple months. The possibilities are endless. When using interactive line charts, expect audience engagement and retention to increase.

Line charts work best when comparing a limited number of variables. If there are too many lines running across a plotted graph, the viewer can become overwhelmed and disengaged. Remember to use line charts only if you want to show how values change over time. If you want to show how values differ in different categories, consider using a column chart.

You can make a line chart in 5 easy steps:

1. Join Infogram to make your own line chart.

2. Select a line chart type (line, area, multiple axes).

3. Upload or copy and paste your data.

4. Customize labels, colors, and fonts.

5. Download your line chart or embed it on your website.

1. Start the Y-axis at zero – otherwise, your viewer might draw inaccurate conclusions.

2. Clearly label your axes – make sure the viewer knows what they are comparing.

3. Remove distracting chart elements – grids, varying colors, and bulky legends can distract the viewer from quickly seeing the overall trend.

4. Avoid comparing more than 5 lines – you don't want your chart to become cluttered or hard to read.

5. Intervals should be equal in size.

6. Lines should only connect values in adjacent intervals. If data is missing, indicate it is missing.

Customize chart lines to your liking – change the weight and style of the lines to make your data easier to view and emphasize specific indicators in the chart.

To customize the lines of your chart:

1. After clicking on the chart you wish to customize, head over to the Color tab in the Settings panel on the right.

2. Click on the gear icon next to the line you wish to customize.

3. Set the weight of the line by typing it in the text box and choose the style of the line from the dropdown menu.

The same style can be used for all lines by clicking on Apply to all lines.

You can also customize lines from the Edit data tab by clicking on any of the colors in the top row and then following the steps described above.

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With Infogram, you can create dynamic charts and maps that update live and in real-time. We support two integrations for live-updates:

1. Google Sheets

2. JSON feeds

As soon as the data changes in the Google Sheet or JSON file, the chart or map it is linked to will automatically update, even when embedded.

Note: Infogram doesn't support formulas, only raw data. If you use formulas or other scripts in your Google sheet, the calculations may not show on Infogram after the import.

To create a live-updating chart or map via Google sheets:

1. In a project, click the Add chart (or Add map) button on the left side panel and choose the chart type that best fits the information you want to display. If you’re not sure which one to pick, try adding any chart type to your project and double-click it to review the example data. Use this data layout in the Google sheet you want to import into a chart.

Tip: Most Infogram charts can only display numeric data (line, column, bar, pie, bubble charts, etc.). However, some are designed to display textual information as well (word cloud, treemap). If your data source contains some columns with numbers and some with text, you will need to separate textual ones and visualize them in a separate text-based chart or import the data into a table chart that supports numbers + text inside one chart.

2. Double-click the chart to open its editor. Above the data table, you will see data import buttons. Choose to Add a Google Drive document. 

3. Connect your Google Drive account. All Google sheets will be displayed in the list. 

Pro tip: You can remove Google Drive and Infogram integration via the Google account settings. When you do, existing live-updating charts will lose their connection.

4. Choose the spreadsheet with the data you need from your Google Drive.

5. When you edit information in your Google sheet, it will automatically update in your Infogram chart. The chart refreshes data every 30 seconds to a minute. These changes will automatically apply to your embeds and shared URL link.

Note: When changing the order of tabs in a Google sheet, the tabs will not automatically shift in your Infogram project. Each data tab of your Infogram project draws information from the numerically corresponding tab in the Google sheet, therefore you have to manually rename the tabs in your Infogram chart.

To create a live-updating chart or map via a JSON feed:

1. Add a chart or map to your project canvas by clicking the Add chart or Add map buttons in the left side panel.

2. Double-click the chart to open its editor. Above the data table, you will see data import buttons. Choose the Add JSON feed option.

3. Use this example to understand how to format your JSON feed. To create a multi-tab chart or map, use the following example. 

4. Now, when you edit the information in your JSON feed, it will automatically update in your Infogram chart. The chart refreshes data every 30 seconds to a minute. These changes will automatically apply to your embeds and shared URL link.

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Select the chart by clicking on it.

In the Axis & Grid tab of the settings panel, in the Grid drop-down, choose None, Vertical, or Horizontal.

Enable the horizontal zero baseline or vertical zero baseline setting.

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Give your projects a sense of structure by using text elements with predefined styles and a typographic hierarchy. This will allow your audience to navigate and understand your ideas more effectively.

To add text: 

1. From the project editor, click on the Add text button on the left-side toolbar.

2. Choose a text element, then drag and drop it onto the canvas.

These are the available text element options: 

1. Title: Used as a primary heading to name the project.

2. Subtitle: Used as a secondary heading to name sub-sections in your project.

3. Body text: Usually the most read text element on the page. Make sure to derive other text element sizes from the body text size.

4. Caption text: Highlights the essence of a chart or map. Captions can be written in just a few words or a few sentences. Keep it short to make it most effective.

5. Quote: A reproduction of what another person said or wrote. For example, use quotes to convey customer reviews.

6. Facts & figures and Centered fact and figure: Both elements are text-based charts with icons. Best used to highlight interesting facts.

7. Table chart: A great option for displaying data with both textual and numeric columns.

Check out our other articles to see how to edit and resize text objects, as well as add graphic elements that contain text.

To undo or redo any edits in your project, simply use the arrow buttons in the toolbar just above your project. The left arrow allows you to undo and revert to a previous version of your project. The right arrow allows you to redo any edits. You can click the arrows several times to go back to where you started or to where you finished.

You can also use keyboard controls ⌘ + Z (on Mac) or Ctrl + Z (on Windows) to undo.

Note: Remember that after exiting or closing the project editor, the action history will be lost.

If you have started your project by clicking on the Responsive web and mobile layouts shortcut, after you delete a chart, map, text field, or any other object from your report, a message will appear in its place allowing you to undo the last action. No other action history is available when working with Responsive web and mobile layouts!