Trend arrow Chart (up and down arrows) in Tableau

Some time we just need to visualize data that shows Year over Year (YOY) growth so we don’t have to drill down the data more for the explanation in others words for better and easy understanding of YOY growth we need some better visualization techniques.
Trend arrows are one of the best visualizations for the YOY growth like we have in stock market trending arrows on daily basis.
In this tutorial we’ll be learning to make create the Trend arrows chart in Tableau.

Workbook is attached with the step by step worksheets

Step 1. Creating the chart

a. Put the Segment in the Columns shelf and Order Date in the Rows shelf

1a

 

b. Change the chart type to Shapes


1b

Step 2. Creating the Shapes for different values

a. Create a Calculated field for the shape for different values “Good” for positive values and “Bad” for negative values and name it ‘Shape difference’ in this case.

1c

b. Now put the calculated field ‘Shape Difference’ in Shape from Marks card

1d

c. Change the shapes for values, Up triangle for Good and Down triangle for Bad

1e Change shape

 

Step 3. Changing the color of shapes

a. Creating a calculated field for the colors it will be calculated in down table and is growth so it will be percentage and name it, here it is ‘Sales difference’

1f Shape color

b. Put the ‘Sales Difference’ in filters and ‘Shape Difference’ in colors from the Marks card.

1g changed color

c. Then Change the color for the triangles, Green for Up triangle and Red for the Down triangle

1h

d. Put the sales difference in the labels from the Marks card and set the position according to your need.

1i label

 

Download the Workbook here!

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