What type of chart you choose is suggested by your data. What story are you trying to tell with your data?
Andy Kirk describes chart families as:
Categorical: Comparing categories and distributions of quantitative values.
Hierarchical: Charting part-to-whole relationships and hierarchies.
Relational: Graphing relationships to explore correlations and connections.
Temporal: Showing trends and activities over time.
Spatial: Mapping spatial patterns through overlays and distortions.
Source: Kirk, Andy. Data Visualization: A Handbook for Data Driven Design. California: Sage Publications, 2016: 158.
Once you know the chart family that is appropriate for your visualizations, then you can start matching chart types with your data.
A Visual Catalog of Chart Types is provided by
