This tip really is a fun one for spicing up that boring chart for your presentation, some peoples charts really are snoozy, so here is how to pep yours up a little with a few clicks.
First of all create a basic Excel line chart as usual with markers…then if you are using Excel 2007 onwards….
- On the Insert tab
- Illustrations
- Shapes – to add a shape to your worksheet- add it to anywhere on your sheet so you can then
- Select the shape and hit CTRL+C
- Activate your chart by selecting it, select the line series and hit CTRL+V
If you want to really turn up the volume on your Charts then you can also use Clip Art as line markers as well as shapes
Other Excel Tip For Charting
1. Change Your Chart Type In Excel
2. Make All Of Your Excel Charts The Same Size
3. Shorten Y Axis Labels On Your Chart
4. Change The Width Of Bars In Excel Barcharts
Jon Peltier says
Note that a little decoration goes a long way. The stars you’ve used here are close to being more of a distraction than a data element. A chart’s data markers should be reasonably small and reasonably simple, and call attention not to itself but to the value it encodes. You don’t want to have people wonder more about how you got those shapes into the chart than about the data in the chart.