COLUMN

Use when

• comparing magnitude across categories that carry a natural order (sites, phases, units)
• 8 categories or fewer
• short category names

Do not use when

• the message is rank (use CH-RNK-01 BAR-H, sorted)
• time series (use CH-TIM-01 LINE; columns over time only for few periods)
• long category names (use CH-RNK-01 BAR-H)
• more than 8 categories

See instead

• the message is rank: CH-RNK-01
• the data is a time series: CH-TIM-01

Alternatives

• CH-MAG-04 (bullet, planned)
• CH-MAG-02 (paired column, planned)

Rules

• columns start at zero, always
• input order preserved; sorting by value is CH-RNK-01's job
• direct value labels above each column; no value axis, no gridlines
• at most one highlighted column (role primary); all others role muted
• unit appears once, on the first value label only
• columns centered in equal slots; bar_width fixed

Never do this

• sorting by value when order is natural (that chart is CH-RNK-01)
• value axis plus direct labels (pick direct labels)
• rainbow columns
• 3D depth or shadows
• truncated baseline
• labels rotated 45 degrees (names too long means wrong chart)

QA before delivering

• baseline at zero
• input order preserved
• exactly one unit mention
• highlight count <= 1
• title states a finding with a number
• source line present bottom-left

Data shape

{
  "title": "Site A stores 42 of 120 units, a third of total inventory",
  "eyebrow": "INVENTORY . WEEK 28",
  "source": "Source: sample dataset v1, 2026-07-12",
  "unit": "units",
  "categories": [
    {
      "label": "Site A",
      "value": 42,
      "highlight": true
    },
    {
      "label": "Site B",
      "value": 35
    },
    {
      "label": "Site C",
      "value": 27
    },
    {
      "label": "Site D",
      "value": 16
    }
  ]
}