Make a Chart That Says One Thing

A chart is a sentence with axes. If you can't say the sentence out loud — "revenue doubles after month four" — you don't need a chart yet, you need a question.

Choose by claim

Prompts

Data check: "Here is my CSV. Tell me what claim the data actually supports, and which rows are too noisy to plot."

Render: "Build a line chart with one highlighted series, grey context lines, direct labels at the end, no legend, y-axis starting at zero."

Accessibility: "Add a one-sentence takeaway above the chart and alt text that states the trend, not the chart type."

Skills

Checklist

• [ ] Title states the takeaway
• [ ] Axis starts at zero (bars) or is clearly broken (lines)
• [ ] Direct labels instead of a legend
• [ ] Source line
• [ ] Alt text describes the trend

FAQ

Pie charts? Almost never.

How many series? Three maximum; highlight one.

Animate it? Only if the animation reveals the trend, not decorates it.