[Looker Studio] Ultimate Guide to Using Pie chart

 

By using pie charts, you can visually represent the proportions of different categories of a particular metric, making it easy to intuitively grasp the distribution. In addition to pie charts, you can also create donut charts with a hollow center. Mastering the finer settings allows you to expand the possibilities of what can be expressed with pie charts, so be sure to explore these options.

□ Official Help: Pie chart reference

What is the Pie chart?

A pie chart is a type of graph that represents the proportion of a particular metric across different categories using wedge-shaped slices. The size of each slice indicates the relative size of that category. This chart is suitable when you want to see the breakdown of a specific number.

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Property Panel Settings

The configuration of pie chart is mainly done in the property panel. The property panel has settings and style menus. We will first explain the settings menu related to numerical configuration.

Data source

In the data source section, you can select and edit the data sources used in the pie chart.

By selecting the data source name, you can switch to other data sources. By choosing the edit icon to the left of the data source name, you can edit that data source. Calculation fields can also be edited from here. 

By selecting "Integrate Data," you can edit integrated data sources that allow you to display data from multiple data sources in a single graph. 

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Date Range Dimension

If you select a data source other than GA4 or Google Ads, the setting for the date dimension will be displayed. You can choose which date to use as the basis for the period of the displayed data. For example, if the data includes two dates, such as booking date and usage date, and you set the booking date as the date dimension, the displayed data will be based on the booking date for the specified period.

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Dimension

A dimension refers to a category of data. By setting dimensions, you can divide and display data by the specified categories. In a pie chart, a wedge-shaped slice is created for each dimension you set.

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Drill down

By configuring drill-down settings, you can dynamically switch between dimensions. While there are no specific restrictions on the fields you can set as dimensions, it's common to set them up with increasing granularity. For example, you might set up the sequence as Year > Month > Day > Week > Day of the Week > Hour, or as Default Channel Group > Session Source > Session Medium > Session Campaign. The switching of dimensions is reversible, allowing you to revert to previous settings.

To set up drill-down, check the drill-down option and add the fields you want to drill down into for the dimension. Finally, select which dimension you want to display by default, and the configuration is complete. 

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 In the actual report display screen, an arrow icon will appear at the top right of the pie chart where the drill-down feature is set. From there, you can drill up or down in the order you have configured.

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Metric

Select the metrics to be displayed. By default, the percentage of the selected metrics will be shown, but you can change it to display by label name or numerical value instead. 

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Optional metrics

By setting optional metrics, you can dynamically replace the metrics displayed in the table. First, set the metrics for the optional metrics as follows.

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 On the report display screen, you can check the movement. An optional metric icon will appear in the top right corner of the pie chart if optional metrics are set. Click on this icon. Checkboxes will then be displayed for each metric. Check the metrics you want to display on the bar chart. The pie chart display will switch to the metrics you selected.

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Metric sliders

The metric slider is a feature that allows you to dynamically narrow down the displayed dimensions based on the range of metric values. The metric slider cannot be used simultaneously with optional metrics. First, turn on the metric slider.

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Let's explain how to use it with an actual report screen. A metric slider icon will appear in the upper right corner of the pie chart where the metric slider is set. Click on it. From here, you can select the range of the metric you want to display, which will filter the dimensions to only show those that fall within the selected range. In this example, we’ve set the sessions metric to range from 1 to 6,000, so only three dimensions that match this range are displayed.

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Sort

You can rearrange the dimensions and metrics displayed in the pie chart. Additionally, you can select items that are not set as dimensions or metrics for the pie chart here.

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Default date range

Here, you can set the period for the indicators displayed in the pie chart. For detailed instructions on how to configure the period, please refer to the following article.

[Looker Studio] Guide to Setting Report Date Range  

 

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Filter

By using filters, you can narrow down the data of the dimensions and metrics displayed based on specific conditions. For more details on how to use filters, please refer to the following article. In this example, we are filtering the data shown in a pie chart to only include those where the device is a PC.

[Looker Studio]How to use filter

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Property Panel Style

Next, let's explain the style of the properties panel related to the design of pie charts.

Chart Title

You can display a title on the bar chart.

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1. Enter the title.
2. Format the title.
3. Set the display position of the title.  

Slices

You can set the number of slices displayed in the pie chart within a range of 1 to 20. This allows for the display of the top 5 slices, top 10 slices, and so on. If you check the box to include in the "Others" group, as shown in the image on the right below, the last slice will aggregate all subsequent slices into the "Others" category.

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Color by

You can specify the color scheme for the pie chart slices. There are three options to choose from: a single color, the order in the pie chart, or the dimension values. The image below shows each of these settings.

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Single color: Displays a gradient of the specified color.

Slice order: You can arbitrarily specify colors based on the order of the slices displayed.

Dimension values: You can freely assign colors to dimension values regardless of their order or value.

Donut slider

You can adjust whether to use a pie chart or a donut chart here. In the image below, the left side shows a complete pie chart without a central space, the right side shows a chart with the maximum central space, and the middle shows a chart with a central space created at about half the size.

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Label

You can customize the following elements within the pie chart:

• Text color
• Text size
• Font
• Display format: percentage, label, value
• Text contrast

The image below shows a pie chart with the display format set to percentage, label, and value.

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Legend

The following items in the legend can be edited:

• Text color
• Text size
• Font
• Display position relative to the chart
• Alignment
• Maximum number of lines

This translation maintains a professional tone, appropriate for a digital marketing expert.

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Background and Border

 You can edit the formatting and design of backgrounds and borders. The configurable items are as follows:

• Background color
• Border radius (corner roundness of the border)
• Transparency
• Border color
• Border thickness
• Border style
• Border shadow

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Chart Header

When setting optional metrics, you can edit the display conditions and colors of the icons that switch the metrics. There are three display conditions as follows. When setting optional metrics, choose either to always display or display on hover.

• Do not display
• Always display
• Display on hover

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