Keeping chart text horizontal: Part 1, Reformatting y-axis titles

We've all been there. Scanning through a report trying to figure out its main findings and suddenly . . .

it's off to the physiotherapist with a stiff neck . . .

Vertical text is often used in charts - but it doesn't make for easy reading. A paper copy can be flipped around, but people mostly read reports on screen. The reader might be able to rotate the screen image, but does the writer really want readers to stop thinking about the statistics and start thinking about how to fiddle about with their displays?

The chart above is taken from the OECD Skills Outlook 2013 'First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills.' It's actually a very useful, comprehensive report for people with an interest in numeracy levels within OECD countries. To my mind, that's pretty much everybody involved in displaying charts and statistics to the general public and non-expert readers in OECD countries.

A big 'take away' message from the report is that across the OECD, around 52% of adults had numeracy skills at Level 2 or below.  Those at Level 2 (around 33%) will be able to manage "basic analysis of data and statistics in texts, tables, and graphs" (p.76), but are likely to struggle with charts and tables that are more complex. This doesn't mean charts should be 'dumbed down': it does mean avoiding chart design choices that make data interpretation harder than it needs to be.

One of the best and kindest things you can do for all of your readers (surprisingly large proportions of whom may get antsy when confronted with charts and data tables) is to make sure that all the chart text goes in the same direction. Vertical chart text makes data interpretation feel like hard work, even if the actual messages in the chart are straightforward. It disrupts readers' flow and makes them more likely to skip over charts, or just get frustrated and stop reading altogether.

Euuwwgh!  . . . How did that vertical text get into my chart? How do I get rid? 

Excel defaults are a frequent culprit. There are three main types of vertical text I've come across that are encouraged by Excel defaults. Each needs to be dealt with differently.

Type 1: Vertical y-axis text

Default y-axis titles are the type of vertical text I see most often in charts. Whilst they're relatively harmless, I find them irritating precisely because they are so easy to remove. Here's how: 

1. Decide whether or not any axis text is needed at all. Despite what's sometimes taught in school, axis titles are often redundant. A good rule of thumb is that you don't need an axis title if it makes you think 'Well duh!' and roll your eyes. 
2. If the axis title adds information, then make it easy to read. Align it horizontally and place it at the top of the axis. In Excel 2016, this can be done by selecting 'Text direction: Horizontal' under  'Format Axis Title - Text Options - Textbox'. Then drag it where you want it to display, resize the chart and you're done. Save your chart as a template (Right-click on chart and save as template), and the next time you want to make a similar chart, the box for the axis title will already be correctly positioned.

Type 1: No more vertical text

The other two types of vertical text that pop up in charts are vertical column labels (as in the example from the OECD Skills Outlook above), and vertical axis category labels (as in the bar chart below).

Type 3: Two-level axis labels in stack charts

I'll look at how to get rid of these types of vertical text in a future post. 

Update:  I've added a YouTube video demoing how to replace vertical y-axis text with horizontally aligned text here