Need a neat way to show availabity (e.g. working hours)

Question

I need to show service availability for a service catalogue I am putting together. I want to do this as economically (in terms of real estate) as possible.

For example, a service may be available:

5am-9am - Emergency Support 9am - 5pm - Core hours 5pm - 9pm - Emergency Support

Was thinking of something like a timeline, but the graphic should fit into a rough square or fat rectangle - i.e. a timeline may be too skinny.

Answer 1

I'd use a single circular clock or pie diagram, representing 24 hours.

You're in the UK, so you should be OK with using either 24-hour labels (e.g. 0900, 1700, 2100) or 12-hour labels (9 am, 5 pm, 9pm), depending on your audience. I'd use text labels for midday and midnight to make it even clearer.

It would be more complicated if you have an international audience - you'd need to make it clear which time zone or location you're in, and 24-hour times are not often used or understood in all countries.

Answer 2

How about three clocks (using ticks rather than numbers) with pie chart slices? Red for emergency (5-9) with an AM over it, green for core, (9-5), repeat the first with a PM over it.