What do your color choices say about your data?

Jun 14, 2022
A banner for data viz quick tips with the Schilling Data Studio Logo showing a line graph and the text what do your color choices say about your data?

If you're not thinking about color in your data visualizations, you're leaving your data high and dry.

The color choices you make when presenting data matter. Color conveys both tone and meaning, and if you're not thinking about your color choices, you could be leading your audience astray or at the very least not giving your data the best presentation.

What tone is reflected in each of these three graphs?

     
A slope graph showing number of penguins from three species in 2007 and 2009. Each line is a different shade of gray. The data is from the Palmer Penguins R package.

 

The first graph is in different shades of grey on a white background, this conveys a clean, minimalistic, and neutral tone.

     
A slope graph showing number of penguins from three species in 2007 and 2009. Each line is a different color. The data is from the Palmer Penguins R package.

 

The second graph is on a pale blue background with teal, green, and orange used for the different lines. These colors convey an energetic, playful tone.

     
A slope graph showing number of penguins from three species in 2007 and 2009. Two lines are gray. One line is green. The data is from the Palmer Penguins R package.

 

The third graph is mostly grey with one line highlighted in green on a white background. The green highlight color conveys a tone of growth while the greys contribute to a neutral tone.

When you select colors for your data visualizations, think about the tone of those colors and the tone you want to convey with your data. Pick colors that align with the tone.

If you're looking for a bold tone, pick strong, dark colors. If you're looking for a light tone, use pale colors. Don't use playful or cutesy colors for serious topics - the tone of the data will not align with the tone of the colors.

Colors also have meaning and that meaning differs from culture to culture. When associated with numbers, red generally implies negative and green generally implies positive. So, if your data shows an increase, don't use red to highlight the values, use green instead.