Like every other pixel of ink on a
visualization or dashboard, colors added or colors omitted should be done so
consciously.
Unless you’re a delicious fruit
flavored candy, there’s no need to exploit the rainbow. Random, over use of
color can lead to confusion and mental exhaustion for your users. If you’ve
ever been to Las Vegas you have an idea of what I’m talking about…sensory
overload is a real thing!
Yet dashboard after dashboard, we
see color used as if the designer is paid by the # of colors used or as if they
were on Crayola's payroll. Examples can be found all over the web.
Here are 10 guidelines for using (or
not using ) color when designing your visualizations. These are considered best
practices and not necessarily laws.
- Use color to make things POP. If everything has a color, nothing pops. Everything
seems of similar value and the user isn’t sure where to focus attention
- Use muted colors for categories instead of bright bold
colors.
- Use low saturation colors for large areas and high
saturation colors for small areas.
- Be consistent with color selections. i.e. if Sales is blue on one visualization, make sales
blue on all visualizations
- Do not use color by entity for a bar chart that already
has labels as the colors do not add
value:
Bad:
Better
6.
When comparing one entity (i.e. mocha) against other entities (i.e. dark roast,
decaf, etc). make the entity of interest a predominant color and mute the
others (i.e. use gray)
7. If using color for
dimensions, think about semantics (i.e. grape = purple, cherry = red, lemon
= yellow). Not doing this can severely slow or potentially alter an analysis.
Bad:
Better:
8. Similarly, if you are using
company colors match them perfectly. The details make the difference. Don’t
attempt to eye it. Use a tool like “Get Color” to obtain RGB values.
9. Limit your dashboard to
a single color palette when possible.
10. Be considerate of your color
blind audience. Red-Green is the most common, followed by Blue-Yellow.
Consider using a color blind palette like the one created by Maureen Stone for
Tableau Software:
These are just 10 tips that came to
mind. Please leave other tips in the comment section below!
Cheers!
Kevin Taylor
Hey Kevin, the only point I disagree with you on is point 5. Its situational of course, but I will often use a bar chart as a de-facto color legend for the rest of a dashboard.
ReplyDeletePeter - Great point and a great example of why these are guidelines and not laws! Thanks! I personally love using charts as filters and I think this type of legend is more telling than a static legend off to the side somewhere.
DeleteConversely... we sometimes see the other extreme in which someone goes monochromatic where color might have been an informative. A viz built only out of 5 shades of light blue is not necessarily better. Under-use of color is just as unhelpful as overuse. Instead it makes more sense to be judicious -- use color to either set dimensions apart, or to express degree (often in gradient) of a measure.
ReplyDeleteagreed that monochrome can be a snoozer and not aid the analysis. "judicious" is a great word for this. I believe I used the word "consciously" in my opening sentence but I like "judicious" a lot more.
DeleteTo play devil's advocate here...if there's enough difference in the 5 shades of blue, it might be decipherable for a color blind viewer (not to say this can't be accomplished w/ multiple colors)
Good stuff Kevin. All great points - and good to be reminded of. Thanks!
ReplyDelete