A method displays a chart including visual marks representing a dataset. The chart is based on content of displayed shelf regions, each determining a respective characteristic of the visual marks. The method generates a visual analytic object by applying a first analytic operation to the dataset, and displays the visual analytic object over the chart. The method detects user input to select the displayed visual analytic object and place an icon representing the visual analytic object onto a first shelf region. The first shelf region defines a first characteristic of the visual marks. In response to the user input, the method updates content of the first shelf region to specify association with the first analytic operation and updates the first characteristic of the visual marks in the chart based on values of the set of data represented by the visual marks relative to values computed by the first analytic operation.