ColorWise

Chapter 5. Selecting a Color Scheme for Your Data Visualization

When people don’t take the time to learn about colors, they wind up staggering through project after project with clashing ideas, mismatched pairs, and distracting usage that dooms them before an audience member even tries to discern the meaning of the actual data. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest jumping-off points when it comes to selecting a color scheme for your visuals.

Importance of Choosing Colors

Deciding on what colors you’re going to use for any project is equal parts exciting and daunting. Exciting because you might stumble across a beautiful combination that takes your data points and creates something truly memorable and unique. Daunting because there’s also the possibility that what you create will be a total disaster and convey the wrong message about your brand to the intended audience.

How significant is choosing the right color? Research tells us that more than 50% of people who decide to leave a website and never return do so because of poor color and design choices.¹ No pressure, right? The same holds true for our data visualizations. If you don’t capture your audience’s attention from the get-go, they’re not going to give you the time of day. Just like leaving a website, if your colors don’t pop and your message isn’t clear, the likelihood of an audience member giving you a second chance is horrifyingly low.

Know Your Audience

A solid first step in picking the best colors for ...