Choosing Colors for Data Visualization

The problem of choosing colors for data visualization is expressed by this quote from information visualization guru Edward Tufte: " …avoiding catastrophe becomes the first principle in bringing color to information: Above all, do no harm. " Color used well can enhance and clarify a presentation. Color used poorly will obscure, muddle and confuse. While there is a strong aesthetic component to color, using color well in information display is essentially about function: what information are trying to convey, and how (or whether) color can enhance it. The most important use of color in information presentation is to distinguish one element from another, a function Edward Tufte calls " to label. " In Figure 1, for example, the different colors in the scatter plot label different products. But the use of color as a label goes beyond the distinctive data colors, for color in this discussion includes black, white and shades of gray. Figure 1. Scatter plot showing marketing vs. profit for four different products. In Figure 1, color is also used to define the background, draw the grid and axes, and label the chart. All visible parts of a presentation must be some color, all of which must work together to be effective. An effective design presents information in an organized manner, making it easy for the viewer to understand the roles and the relationships between the elements. A good organizing principle is to define categories of information, grouped by function and ordered by