I realise you are likely constrained by the corporate colour scheme. If this is so I would strongly recommend one of the charts that does not rely on a full-height bar of red/green to distinguish good/bad performance – too many people would simply not be able to tell the good/bad bars apart, aside from the difficulty in distinguishing actual performance.

I agree with Jon on his preference for the last chart shown (note that it is blue/orange rather than red/green). I think that alternatively Andre’s first chart would be a good choice (a bit busy for me) although I have also used overlapping bars (Jon’s first response) and target bars as shown by Jeff previously (target can be visually hard to locate in some data sets).

Enjoy your new-found options.

Matt

This might be my favorite of the options I’ve considered.

1. Use markers to indicate the actual monthly values. Otherwise, the eye immediately goes from the low of October to the recovered value of December, without noticing the intermediate November value.

2. Use distinct markers for October and November actuals to indicate their great difference from the target. You can identify them easily using a third series with a formula like this:
=IF(C2/B2<0.9,C2,NA())
where B2 is the Jan target and C2 the Jan actual, and filled down through Dec. You can include data labels on these indicated points with the percent drop or some other quantity.

When the actuals fall below or rise above the target, it is visually obvious. The line chart also integrates text and graph, avoiding the far away legend of your original display.

Most importantly, the real event in your data set seems to be the dramatic drop in October, followed by only a partial recovery in November. Your initial set up de-emphasizes this by using the bright red for everything that falls below the target, ever so slightly. It took me more time to see it on your original graph than in this line chart, where it dominates the visual, as should be (it seems).

John’s colors are also better. Use a subtly grey for your reference point, not an invading blue that draws attention to itself. I also prefer three-letter acronyms for months to display them bigger.

Hope this helps.