Comments on: Data Visualization that Is Colorblind-Friendly — Excel 2007?

By: Tim Wilson

Tim Wilson — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:13:03 +0000

Thanks for chiming in, Bruce. The more I’ve focussed on data visualization, the more I’ve found that, with appropriate chart type selection, “color” should only be needed for specific callouts/accents. It’s one of the reasons that pie charts are inherently evil (it’s by no means the only one) — they *have* to rely on color differentiation. Horizontal bar charts for a single data set can be any color, flashy or neutral tone, because they don’t require color as an element for comprehension.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:02:53 +0000

I suspect these palettes are poorly chosen for functionality. It seems people with ‘normal’ vision don’t like vivid colors. I have trouble seeing red and green myself, but I can tell you it is a lot harder to differentiate pastel green-gray from pastel green-aqua. WHY IS EVERYONE APPARENTLY SO OPPOSED TO VIVID COLORS?

Oh – Yes, I am shouting. I am sick of this nonsense. Not one color in that palette is vivid. Oh, perhaps normal people think more vivid colors just are not as fashionable? I need to DIFFERENTIATE the colors. I don’t give one rats butt for your style or aesthetic concerns if you don’t think my comprehension of the data trumps style. People like me are not ornaments in a room – we have a right to see the data clearly. And – apparently you don’t care. Here, even when you try to be “helpful”, you have chose obviously-dull, non-differentiable colors. I am so frustrated I could punch a wall.

I can even pass the military’s minimum test for a pilot’s color vision (Farnsworth lantern), but I still have trouble with these palette’s, especially when the lines are less than 0.75 wide. What is it like for people with worse vision? Ah, why do you care? Apparently, it’s not ‘hip’ or ‘with it’ to have more bold but less ‘pleasing’ colors, even if it is at the expense of a handicapped minority.

This is VERY disappointing! If this is ‘helpful’, then I don’t need help. I am just as blind with this palette.

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Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:02:35 +0000

By: G

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:04:17 +0000

There is a website,

http://www.sron.nl/~pault/

that has many colourblind- and printer-friendly palettes, as a function of how many colours you need to use:

http://www.sron.nl/~pault/colourschemes.pdf

Cheers,
G

By: Tim Wilson

Tim Wilson — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:26:06 +0000

Thanks for the tip, Derrak!

By: Derrak

Derrak — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:30:16 +0000

Thanks for your post! You should check out Color Oracle, a color blindness simulator that works on all major operating systems. http://colororacle.cartography.ch/
As for color blind friendly pallets, check out Colorbrewer, although intended for cartographers, any data designer will find the color palette advice useful. (Look for the “colorblind safe” check-box under the color schemes.) http://colorbrewer2.org/

By: How Succinctly Can I Explain Why Pie Charts Are Evil? | Gilligan on Data by Tim Wilson

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:48:19 +0000

[...] 10% of men suffer from some form of color-blindness — it’s darn tricky to nail a palette with more than a small handful of colors that works across the various types of the condition (of [...]

By: Tim Wilson

Tim Wilson — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:22:56 +0000

Absolutely. These are just the Excel 2007 defaults, numbered as they are numbered in the post.

R,G,B (0-255) | #RGB (Hex)

1 – 69,114,167 | #4572A7
2 – 170,70,67 | #AA4643
3 – 137,165,78 | # 89A54E
4 – 113,88,143 | #71588F
5 – 65,152,175 | #4198AF
6 – 219,132,61 | #DB843D
7 – 147,169,207 | #93A9CF
8 – 209,147,146 | #D19392
9 – 185,205,150 | #B9CD96
10 – 169,155,189 | #A99BBD

By: Simon Duquenoy

Simon Duquenoy — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:52:01 +0000

I am very interested in this study and have equally been trying to define a set of ‘useful’ colors. I came across a set of 8 ‘unambiguous’ colors but you have at least extended this to a possible 10. Is there anyway you can provide me with the RGB or SVG codes for these colors ?