Pick the chart that answers the question

AI tools build charts in seconds, and they choose the chart type and the axes for you. The chart can be accurate and still mislead. Your job is to pick the chart that answers the question, and to make sure it doesn't exaggerate.

Three checks before a chart goes out:

• Does it answer the question? "Which region grew fastest?" needs growth per region, not total sales per region.
• Do bar charts start at zero? Bar length is the value, so a cut-off axis makes small gaps look large. A line chart can zoom in, if you say so in the title.
• Is it the simplest chart that works? A sorted bar chart beats a pie with ten slices.

Then write one sentence under it: what the reader should take away.