This post on the F1 Instagram account has an interesting solution to the labels of a data chart:
- When the column is tall enough, the label is put inside with a contrasting white font color
- If not, the label is put on top, if possible with a font color that matches the column
The advantage is that this enables you to make the column graph taller as a whole (no need to budget extra space for the labels), and it is easer to put a background image as most labels (in tall columns) have enough contrast against them.
The vertical orientation of the labels though…