Data Visualization,

1e

Chapter 4: Purposeful Use of Color

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 Chapter Objectives (1 of 2)

After completing this chapter, you will be able to:

LO 4.1 Describe hue, saturation, and luminance and differentiate
between them.
LO 4.2a Describe the differences between color psychology and color
symbolism
LO 4.2b Explain how each color psychology and color symbolism can be
used effectively

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 Chapter Objectives (2 of 2)

LO 4.3 Design color schemes that are appropriate for categorical data,
ordered data, and quantitative data with meaningful reference
values
LO 4.4 Define colors in data visualization software using the hue,
saturation, luminance (HSL) system
LO 4.5 Create data visualizations using colors that are easier for the
audience to interpret
LO 4.6 List common mistakes made when using color in data
visualizations and how to avoid them

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 Data Visualization Makeover
Versions of cover art for Ted Williams’s The Science of Hitting

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 Color

Color is the property of an object that results from how the object reflects or
emits light.

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 4.1 Attributes of Color: Hue
The RGB primary color model and color wheel

Hue is the base of color. The primary hues (red, green, and blue) form the color model. The primary
hues cannot be mixed or formed by any combination of other hues.
Combinations of primary hues create secondary and tertiary colors, as displayed in the color wheel.

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 4.1 Attributes of Color: Saturation
Primary hues in the RGB primary color model at different levels of saturation

Saturation is the attribute of a color representing the amount of gray present. It determines the hue’s
intensity or purity. A pure hue has no grayness and is 100% saturated.

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Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
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 4.1 Attributes of Color: Luminance
Primary hues in the RGB primary color model at different levels of
luminance

Luminance measures the relative degree of black or white within a color – the brightness of a color.
Adding white to a hue creates a brighter color and adding black to a hue creates a darker color.

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 4.1 Color Psychology and Color Symbolism

Color psychology: the study of the innate relationships between color and
human behavior.
We perceive Cool hues (purple, blue, and green) as soothing,
calming, and reassuring.
Warm hues (yellow, orange, and red) evoke energy, passion, and
danger.
Color symbolism refers to the cultural meanings and significance associated
with color.
Color symbolism differs much more across cultures than color
psychology does and can change over time.

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Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
website, in whole or in part.
 4.1 Perceived Color
Traits frequently associated with various colors

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 4.1 Perceived Color and Background
Perceived color changes as contrast with the background color changes

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 4.1 Complementary and Analogous Colors

Complementary colors are directly opposite each other on the color wheel.
• Create dissonance
• Useful to make objects in a display stand out

Analogous colors are directly adjacent to each other on a color wheel.

• Appear softer and smoother than complementary colors when used together

Overuse of complementary and analogous colors increases cognitive load

and may distract the audience.

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4.1 Suggestions for the Use of Color in Data Visualization

• Poor and unnecessary use of color creates clutter and increases the
audience’s cognitive load.
• A multicolored background for data visualization can be distracting.
• Cool colors appear more distant than warm colors.
• Complementary colors used together create color dissonance.
• Analogous colors create more color harmony than complementary colors.

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 4.2 Color Scheme

The color scheme is the set of colors (hues, saturations, and

luminances) in data visualization.

The color scheme depends on the type of data used in the data
visualization and the message we want to convey to the audience.

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website, in whole or in part.
4.2 Categorical Color Schemes

In a categorical color scheme, distinct and

unordered color groups represent a
categorical variable's outcomes.
To set the Colorful palette shown to the left:
Step 1. Click anywhere on the chart
Step 2. Click on the Page Layout tab on
the ribbon
Step 3. Click on the Colors dropdown
menu in the Themes group
Step 4. Select the Office theme

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Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
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4.2 Sequential Color Schemes

In a sequential color scheme, the gradient of

saturation or luminance of a hue represents the
outcomes of an ordered variable.
To set a Monochromatic palette:
Step 1. Click anywhere on the chart
Step 2. Click on the Chart Design tab in the
ribbon
Step 3. Click the Change Colors dropdown
menu in the Chart Styles group
Step 4. Select one of the Monochromatic
themes

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 4.2 Sequential Color Schemes for Maps

Choropleth map of average annual temperature by state using brown

A monochromatic brown is more

suitable to convey an idea of
warmth to the audience.

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 4.2 Diverging Color Schemes
Heat map of monthly mean daily low temperature for Indianapolis 2010–2019

In a diverging color scheme, a gradient formed by two sequential color schemes sharing a common
endpoint represents a quantitative variable.
Each sequential color scheme, one for values above the reference value and the other one below, uses a
different hue with a gradient of increasing luminance as the values approach the reference value.
*See the notes for step-by-step instructions on how to build a heat map with a diverging color scheme.

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 4.3 The HSL Color System

We can control the hue, saturation, and luminance (HSL) in Excel through the Colors dialog
box as 0 to 255 integers.
Hue: the primary and secondary colors of the RGB primary color mode using fixed values for
100% saturation (Sat: 255) and 50% luminance (Lum: 128) are:
Color Hue
Red 0
Yellow 40
Green 80
Cyan 120
Blue 160
Magenta 200
Sat: a higher saturation represents a purer color. A Sat value of 0 results in a gray tone.
Lum: a luminance of 255 results in the color white. A Lum value of 0 produces the color black.

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Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
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4.3 Setting the Hue Parameter in the Colors Dialog Box

As the value of the Hue

parameter increases, the
crosshair indicator moves
horizontally from left to right
across the color spectrum
control in the Colors dialog box
to indicate the selected hue.

Camm, Cochran, Fry & Ohlmann, Data Visualization - Exploring and Explaining with Data, 1st Edition. © 2021
Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
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4.3 Setting the Sat Parameter in the Colors Dialog Box

As the value of the Sat

parameter increases, the
crosshair indicator moves
vertically from bottom to top
across the color spectrum
control in the Colors dialog box
to indicate the selected
saturation, which alters the
grayness/increases the purity
of the color.

Camm, Cochran, Fry & Ohlmann, Data Visualization - Exploring and Explaining with Data, 1st Edition. © 2021
Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
website, in whole or in part.
4.3 Setting the Lum Parameter in the Colors Dialog Box

As the value of the Lum

parameter increases, the 
indicator moves vertically from
the bottom to the top of the
Luminosity slide control in the
Colors dialog box to indicate
the selected luminance, which
reduces and increases the
lightness of the color.

Camm, Cochran, Fry & Ohlmann, Data Visualization - Exploring and Explaining with Data, 1st Edition. © 2021
Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
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 4.3 Replicate a Color Using the Eyedropper Tool
Hue, Sat, and Lum settings used in the
Grappenhall Publishers logo Grappenhall Publishers logo

*See the notes for step-by-step instructions on how to

replicate a color using the eyedropper tool.

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4.3 Custom Color Using the RGB Color System

Step 1. Access the RGB Color System by selecting RGB from the Color
model: dropdown menu in the Colors dialog box. Then, select
the Standard tab in the Colors dialog box.
Step 2. Click on a particular hexagon to invoke the desired color. The
new color will appear on the New-Current box in the lower
right of the dialog box.
Click OK to change the object to the new color.
The Transparency slider controls how much you see-through in a color.
Step 3. Drag the Transparency slider or enter a number between 0 and
100 to vary the percentage of transparency from 0 (fully
opaque, the default setting) to 100% (fully transparent).

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Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
website, in whole or in part.
 4.4 Unnecessary Color
Use of hue and a legend to identify Use of horizontal axis labels to identify
categories categories

• The horizontal axis label replaces the legend with category names.
• A single color replaces the colorful palette.
• The audience can now follow the chart from left to right with a reduced cognitive load.

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 4.4 Excessive Color

Line chart of the quarterly house price index by state with too many colors

The chart shows quarterly house-price

indexes from 1992–2019 for each state
and the District of Colombia.
The chart objective emphasizes the
westernmost states in the continental
United States (Arizona, California,
Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.)
With 51 categories/colors on this chart,
comparing housing prices across states
is difficult.

Camm, Cochran, Fry & Ohlmann, Data Visualization - Exploring and Explaining with Data, 1st Edition. © 2021
Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
website, in whole or in part.
 4.4 Reducing Excessive Color

Chart of quarterly house price index by state with more efficient use of color
We can make it easier for the audience to find
the westernmost states in the continental
United States by:
• Applying a different color for each of these
states and using gray for all other states.
• Removing the legend and adding a label for
each of the five westernmost states in the
continental United States to the end of their
respective lines.
*See step-by-step instructions on how to
produce the chart to the left in the notes.

Camm, Cochran, Fry & Ohlmann, Data Visualization - Exploring and Explaining with Data, 1st Edition. © 2021
Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
website, in whole or in part.
 4.4 Insufficient Contrast
Lack of contrast makes it more challenging Increased contrast makes it easier to
to differentiate between the pie chart slices differentiate between the pie chart slices

The increase in luminance difference increases the contrast between the two slices of each pie chart,
making it easier for the audience to focus on the NHS portion of the budget.

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 4.4 Inconsistency Across Charts
A stacked column chart of children and A line chart of ticket revenue for December
adult zoo attendance for the last year across several years

The consistent use of colors, orange and blue for adults and children, helps the audience comprehend the
data presented across a series of related slides.

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 4.4 Neglecting Colorblindness

Heat map of monthly mean daily low Heat map as It may appear to someone
temperature for Indianapolis 2010–2011 who is red-green colorblind

Colorblindness, or a reduced ability to accurately perceive some colors, occurs when at least one of the
three types of cones in a retina is insensitive to the wavelength of light responsible for sensing.
The most common form of colorblindness is red-green colorblindness.
*See additional comments in the notes.

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Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
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 4.4 Neglecting Mode of Delivery

• Color works differently in print and projection.

• Projected presentations should:
• Use thick lines, sharp outlines, color contrast, and relatively high saturation and
luminance.
• Colors vary across projectors. When possible, review the entire presentation in advance
with the projection equipment to give the actual presentation.
• Printed presentations should:
• Use softer outlines with less saturated colors, lower luminance, and less contrast.
• Colors vary across printers. Consider printing a test page that includes each of the colors
used in the report on the same printer you will use to print the report.

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website, in whole or in part.
 Discussion Activity

• Consider the choropleth maps of average annual temperature by state shown in slide 17.
We learned how to indicate the gradient of a quantitative variable, such as temperature,
using different levels of luminance for the same hue, and how we can play on the
psychology of color to convey coolness (blue) vs. warmth (brown) in the audience.
• Suppose you need to create a choropleth map of median family income by state (data
not available.) What color scheme would you choose to convey the message to the
audience and why? Define the color scheme, hue, and luminance selected for this case..
• What if you instead need to create a choropleth map of changes in median family
income by state (data not available) over the past decade (such as 2010 vs. 2020.)
What color scheme would you choose to convey the message to the audience and why?
Define color scheme, hues, and luminance selected for this case.

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 Check Your Knowledge

1. When the groups of the categorical variable have no inherent ascending or descending
order, the variable is well suited for representation by __________.
a. a sequential color scheme for each of its unique groups
b. a distinct color for each of its unique groups
c. analogous colors for each of its unique groups
d. warm hues for each of its unique groups

2. Which of these is not a common color usage mistake in data visualization?

a. Inconsistency across related charts
b. Not considering the mode of delivery
c. Insufficient contrast
d. Reusing the same color scheme for multiple charts

Camm, Cochran, Fry & Ohlmann, Data Visualization - Exploring and Explaining with Data, 1st Edition. © 2021
Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
website, in whole or in part.
 Summary

In this chapter, you should have learned how:

• To use color to define the pre-attentive attributes of hue, saturation, and luminance.
• To distinguish between color psychology and color symbolism and use them effectively in
data visualizations.
• To design color schemes that are appropriate for the different variable types with a
meaningful reference value.
• To use the HSL system for defining color in Excel.
• The common mistakes made when using color, including neglecting to consider
colorblindness, may affect the outcome of data visualizations.

Camm, Cochran, Fry & Ohlmann, Data Visualization - Exploring and Explaining with Data, 1st Edition. © 2021
Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
website, in whole or in part.