PowerPoint: Free Proportional Comparison Diagram Calculation Tool

by AJ Walther  

While browsing Dave Paradi's PowerPoint Blog recently, I found how easy it is to create a Proportional Comparison Diagram (allowing viewers to compare numbers using shapes that are sized proportionally).

In the example below, I'm illustrating the large number of emails sent versus the small number of sales made. Using proportionally-sized shapes is a clean and visually appealing way to get my point across. 

The tricky part may be doing the math to figure out the correct proportions for each descending shape. No worries, Dave has developed a tool to do the dirty work for you. Here's how it works:

1. In PowerPoint, use the drawing tools to insert your shapes, format them using your desired colors and set the Line color to No Line. Don't worry about the sizes, you'll handle that next. (For my example above, I drew four rectangles.)
2. Navigate to the Proportional Shape Comparison Diagram Calculation Tool.
3. Scroll down and in the Larger Value field, type the largest value you'd like to represent. (For my example above, that would be 8,456.)
4. In the Small Value field, type the second largest value you'd like to represent. (For my example above, that would be 5,627.)
5. In PowerPoint, right-click the shape that you would like to represent your largest value and choose Format Shape > Size. Copy and paste the dimensions from the Dimensions for Overlapping Rectangles area of the Proportional Shape Comparison Diagram Calculation Tool, including the "cm." (The dimensions appear in the calculation tool in cm, but PowerPoint will automatically convert the dimensions to inches for you when you paste them.)
6. Repeat step 5 for the shape you would like to represent your second largest value.
7. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for the remainder of the shapes.
8. Overlap you shapes. If you find that you would like all of your shapes to be a different size, you can save time by grouping all the shapes (select all of the shapes and press [ctrl] [g] on your keyboard). Resizing the group will keep the proportions the same for all of the shapes.

Pretty cool, eh?

Note: If my color scheme for the proportional comparison diagram above looks familiar, it's because I used the same colors in my Pictaculous article. Told ya having a pre-made color scheme would come in handy!