Visualization-Aware Color Design

Color encoding design currently focuses on the colors themselves: visualization designers choose sets of colors that work well in isolation. However, the effectiveness of a color encoding depends on properties of the visualization it is used for, such as the size or shape of marks. We argue for a new way of thinking about color design in visualizations: designers should choose colors based on a given context rather than in isolation. We identify three categories of design constraints that contribute to the effective color choices in visualization: aesthetic constraints, perceptual constraints, and functional constraints. The conceptual framework formed by these constraints helps designers optimize color choices based on known properties of a given visualization. In this poster, we discuss this framework in detail and illustrate how it informs more effective visualization design.