Comments on: What’s the best way to choose graph colors? http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/ Stay curious! Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:56:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.2 By: Kristian http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14885 Kristian Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:31:04 +0000 http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14885 Great! Colours can be difficult indeed, been working with them for half my life and they can still cause trouble! Designers end up ripping palettes of others too, sometimes... For further investigation: some good examples here (check page 7 for graphs), and principles explained: http://www.stonesc.com/pubs/Expert Color Choices.pdf Another tool (put in a color with low saturation and start from there): http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html?r=51&g=102&b=255&hex=666660 Great! Colours can be difficult indeed, been working with them for half my life and they can still cause trouble! Designers end up ripping palettes of others too, sometimes…

For further investigation: some good examples here (check page 7 for graphs), and principles explained:
http://www.stonesc.com/pubs/Expert Color Choices.pdf

Another tool (put in a color with low saturation and start from there):
http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html?r=51&g=102&b=255&hex=666660

]]> By: Xaprb http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14875 Xaprb Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:49:50 +0000 http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14875 Yes, the math-based approach didn't work well. But I ripped some palettes off of colourlovers.com and that ended up working very well indeed! Yes, the math-based approach didn’t work well. But I ripped some palettes off of colourlovers.com and that ended up working very well indeed!

]]> By: Kristian http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14874 Kristian Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:35:04 +0000 http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14874 1) Use a designer for design work ;-) 2) Use Adobe Kuler for creating palettes, then expand your choices based one this palette 3) Focus on shades, not hues 4) Avoid primary colours, and over-saturation 5) Read up on Edvard Tufte ! (Tufte is God) 1) Use a designer for design work ;-)
2) Use Adobe Kuler for creating palettes, then expand your choices based one this palette
3) Focus on shades, not hues
4) Avoid primary colours, and over-saturation
5) Read up on Edvard Tufte ! (Tufte is God)

]]> By: Eric Pugh http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14363 Eric Pugh Sat, 29 Mar 2008 00:16:05 +0000 http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14363 I think Carsten and Garth both hit is on the head. When I first read your blog a couple days ago, I thought about the last time I tried to pick colors to paint trim in our kitchen! We ended up using what I picked, and then redoing it all 6 months later 'cause it was so bad. So going with a swatch that you can get either online or at Lowes I think is the way to go. I think Carsten and Garth both hit is on the head. When I first read your blog a couple days ago, I thought about the last time I tried to pick colors to paint trim in our kitchen! We ended up using what I picked, and then redoing it all 6 months later ’cause it was so bad. So going with a swatch that you can get either online or at Lowes I think is the way to go.

]]> By: Carsten Pedersen http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14328 Carsten Pedersen Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:58:47 +0000 http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14328 Haven't used this tool for graphs, but in a lot of other situations where I've wanted a selection of good colors it's served my purpose: http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html Haven’t used this tool for graphs, but in a lot of other situations where I’ve wanted a selection of good colors it’s served my purpose: http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html

]]> By: Garth Snyder http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14327 Garth Snyder Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:50:27 +0000 http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14327 I don't think there's any way to do this algorithmically - color is too subjective and tricky. I would suggest starting at one of the color palette warehouses such as colourlovers.com or kuler.adobe.com and finding a palette that you like. Unfortunately, most of the palettes in these archives fall short of the number of colors that you need. But I think that if you found a nice palette of 6 colors without a lot of value variation, you could duplicate the colors in a lighter or darker value to create a sufficient number of colors. I don’t think there’s any way to do this algorithmically - color is too subjective and tricky. I would suggest starting at one of the color palette warehouses such as colourlovers.com or kuler.adobe.com and finding a palette that you like.

Unfortunately, most of the palettes in these archives fall short of the number of colors that you need. But I think that if you found a nice palette of 6 colors without a lot of value variation, you could duplicate the colors in a lighter or darker value to create a sufficient number of colors.

]]> By: Xaprb http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14326 Xaprb Sun, 23 Mar 2008 19:52:12 +0000 http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14326 Sean, I like your ideas a lot. Especially negating. Sean, I like your ideas a lot. Especially negating.

]]> By: Merlijn Tishauser http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14325 Merlijn Tishauser Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:03:54 +0000 http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14325 And use an utility to similate colourblindness. I am not colourblind myself, but I got customerfeedback from some of my customers that they where not able to see the difference between lines within the same graph. And use an utility to similate colourblindness. I am not colourblind myself, but I got customerfeedback from some of my customers that they where not able to see the difference between lines within the same graph.

]]> By: Sean http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14324 Sean Sun, 23 Mar 2008 13:38:34 +0000 http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14324 11 data elements is a lot to have on a graph. 6 is the most I tend to go with. That said, some ways to cram a lot more details on the graph without killing the reader's eyes: - Multiply all the writes by -1 with a cdef so that you have a graph with reads on top, and writes on the bottom. Keep the colours the same - Remember, you have three different line thicknesses to choose from. - Use area/stack along with lines. For example, aggregate writes as a light coloured area with various components on top as a line. The -1 trick works well, too - Does it need to be on the graph? Sometimes the data is better put as a gprint/comment on the bottom of the graph - Play with scaling some values (not always appropriate) so that the lines are separated by whitespace. For colours, I try to stick with the simple ones: red, green, blue, yellow, black Sean 11 data elements is a lot to have on a graph. 6 is the most I tend to go with. That said, some ways to cram a lot more details on the graph without killing the reader’s eyes:

- Multiply all the writes by -1 with a cdef so that you have a graph with reads on top, and writes on the bottom. Keep the colours the same

- Remember, you have three different line thicknesses to choose from.

- Use area/stack along with lines. For example, aggregate writes as a light coloured area with various components on top as a line. The -1 trick works well, too

- Does it need to be on the graph? Sometimes the data is better put as a gprint/comment on the bottom of the graph

- Play with scaling some values (not always appropriate) so that the lines are separated by whitespace.

For colours, I try to stick with the simple ones: red, green, blue, yellow, black

Sean

]]> By: James McNellis http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14322 James McNellis Sun, 23 Mar 2008 04:54:17 +0000 http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2008/03/22/whats-the-best-way-to-choose-graph-colors/#comment-14322 Well, I can't directly suggest any colors, but when I created a monitoring package for some application daemons, I just borrowed the colors used by a freely available monitoring package, Monitorix. It uses some pretty good looking color combinations. Well, I can’t directly suggest any colors, but when I created a monitoring package for some application daemons, I just borrowed the colors used by a freely available monitoring package, Monitorix. It uses some pretty good looking color combinations.

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