It is easy to explain any kind of quantitative information in your presentation. You can talk about sales figures in an effortless manner. It becomes troublesome when it comes to presenting and explaining things like quality, satisfaction, or taste. Since most of us are unaware of how to illustrate these abstract concepts, we just write the information that does not effectively communicate our point. And that’s where Harvey balls in PowerPoint come in.
We wanted to introduce the concept of Harvey Balls to the users through this blog, which could help them showcase abstract concepts visually.
Table of Contents
What Are Harvey Balls?
A Harvey ball diagram is a beneficial visual tool for quickly making qualitative assessments. PowerPoint Harvey balls consist of multiple circular shapes, which are partially or fully shaded to show the extent to which an item fulfills particular criteria. The unshaded portion of these balls shows how much an item lacks certain criteria, which helps make different decisions when several options are available.
Harvey Balls chart is a type of state indicator usually used for comparison in presentations and reports. You might find this visual tool in several comparison types, such as comparing a product by price, weight, quality, taste, safety, etc.
Why Do We Need PowerPoint Harvey Balls?
As we discussed above, Harvey ball icons can be used for different purposes by professionals. Business professionals must do qualitative comparisons and analyses of various reports. We can use Harvey Balls in PPT –
To Showcase the Project Status
A simple, quick, and everyday use of the Harvey balls PowerPoint is to convey project status. Different Harvey balls in the diagram can be used to show the status of different aspects of a project, such as milestones, budget expenditures, etc. Here are a few Harvey Balls Examples to effectively showcase the project status report –
The above project status PowerPoint template shows how you can use Harvey balls to showcase the status of various aspects of your project, such as planning, development, testing, etc. This effective visual tool can help you quickly overview your project.
To Compare Products
Harvey Balls chart compares a particular product or process to assess differences between their characteristics or features. While comparing products is often straightforward (price, weight, features), Harvey balls are particularly useful for comparing more qualitative information, such as taste or quality, features, usability, and affordability.
As you can see in the above template, Harvey balls PPT can be utilized to compare multiple products by listing down the criteria of your decision, such as price, UX, quality, etc. You can change the colors of the balls and the shaded portions in the Harvey balls.
For Human Resources and Management
Rating and ranking employees is a challenge for human resource professionals and managers. Harvey balls are an easy, unbiased way to evaluate employees. Most managers aren’t ranking their employees solely on performance. Oftentimes, there are other characteristics a manager looks for: potential, work ethic, teamwork, etc.
There are many ways in which Harvey Balls can help HR professionals showcase the employee performance and status of different initiatives to senior management. The above template is one of the Harvey Balls examples highlighting an employee’s performance.
Advantages of Using Harvey Balls
Harvey Balls has many advantages in PowerPoint presentations and other documents. Let’s look at some of the pros of using Harvey Balls.
Help Depict Qualitative Information
Harvey balls can be a good visual tool for depicting qualitative information. Shaded Harvey balls make it easy for the audience to grasp information when presenting how less an item is than another item. Similarly, using PowerPoint graphics instead of numbers can help the audience, who might find large chunks of information confusing.
Can Save Space on a Slide
Instead of using large data tables, you can shrink that information using Harvey Balls in PowerPoint. For instance, if you want to compare two things regarding safety, quality, or market share, you can use Harvey Balls for a quick visual depiction.
The above business PowerPoint template is a great example of showing detailed information in very little space using Harvey balls. This template can be used to showcase your business growth drivers. Instead of going into too much detail, a Harvey balls matrix can certainly present a more concise comparison.
Can be useful in Reports
Besides comparing products, business professionals can use the Harvey balls chart in their long financial reports or other reports to present qualitative information.
How to create Harvey Balls in PowerPoint?
Now that you know all about Harvey Balls, the question you might have is – How can you implement them in your presentation? We have written a step-by-step-guide down below for you to follow and create easily –
Step 1
Go to the Insert tab in the top menu bar in PowerPoint. Click on “Shapes” and select the Oval shape. Hold Shift while you draw the circle on your slide.
Step 2
Format the circle you created in the Shape Format tab. You can choose one of the presets or create a custom Harvey ball by selecting an individual shape fill.
Step 3
Once you have finished the circle design, go to the Insert tab again. Now, use the Partial circle. Draw a partial circle of the same size as the first circle by holding shift and dragging the mouse. You also have to format the partial circle.
Step 4
Put the partial circle exactly on top of the first circle. The partial circle has orange dots, which will allow you to change the “amount of circle” (shade)– you can adjust the ball as you like.
Step 5
Hold your left mouse button and slide it over your created circle. Then right-click and select “Group” > “Group”. This converts your two shapes into one and allows you to move your Harvey ball around as a whole.
Watch this stepwise video tutorial to get a detailed idea–
Conclusion
Harvey balls are a great visual tool that you can use in PowerPoint presentations to make your presentation appealing and easy to understand. They are commonly used for tracking projects, comparing products or services, and even in official reports. What makes Harvey balls PowerPoint so easy to understand is its ability to represent qualitative information effectively. You can also find other uses of this tool in your office, projects, etc.
