Charts / CH-MAG-02
CH-MAG-02 . family MAG

PAIRED COLUMN

two columns per category, side by side. Needs: ordered categories + exactly two comparable series (budget vs actual).

magnitudecomparison

DL-01 AGRAW
Q4 spend overran budget by 21 k$, the widest quarterly gap 220 k$ Budget 214 Actual Q1 240 252 Q2 260 249 Q3 280 301 Q4 Source: sample dataset v1, 2026-07-12

Use when

  • two measures per category: budget vs actual, plan vs forecast
  • 6 categories or fewer

Do not use when

  • more than two series (unreadable; use lines or small multiples)
  • long category names (use CH-DST-02)

See instead

Alternatives

  • CH-DST-02 (dots when columns crowd)

Rules

  • series named by direct labels above the first pair, never a legend
  • series_a muted (reference), series_b primary (actual/key)
  • bars start at zero
  • unit once

Never do this

  • three or more series per group
  • legends
  • truncated baseline

QA before delivering

  • exactly two series
  • labels above first pair
  • baseline at zero
  • unit once
  • source present

Data shape

titleaction title naming the widest gap
sourcebottom-left always
uniton first value label
xordered category labels
seriesexactly two: [{name, values}, {name, values}]; second is the key
Sample data (golden) 
{
  "title": "Q4 spend overran budget by 21 k$, the widest quarterly gap",
  "eyebrow": "BUDGET VS ACTUAL . 2025",
  "source": "Source: sample dataset v1, 2026-07-12",
  "unit": "k$",
  "x": [
    "Q1",
    "Q2",
    "Q3",
    "Q4"
  ],
  "series": [
    {
      "name": "Budget",
      "values": [
        220,
        240,
        260,
        280
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Actual",
      "values": [
        214,
        252,
        249,
        301
      ]
    }
  ]
}