Line charts are frequently used in Excel but their default settings leave a lot to be desired. See the transformation of a standard line chart to a simpler and easier to read line chart.
Here’s the standard / default Excel line chart.
I have listed the steps below.
- Delete the gridlines
- Delete the vertical axis and title
- Increase size of the plot area
- Move the legend
- Change the date axis and show every 5 years only
- Add data labels to the end of the lines
- Add the starting data label to one of the lines
Below is a link to the example file.