Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 11, 2026
04:43
Visualizing Visual Adaptation
Published on: April 24, 2017
9.7K
Colorgorical: Creating discriminable and preferable color palettes for information visualization
Connor C Gramazio1, David H Laidlaw1, Karen B Schloss2
1Dept. of Computer Science at Brown University.
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
|November 23, 2016
Summary
Colorgorical, a web tool, creates custom color palettes balancing visual distinctiveness and user preference. Evaluations show these palettes are as effective as industry standards.
Area of Science:
- Data Visualization
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Color Science
Background:
- Effective categorical color palettes are crucial for data visualization clarity.
- Existing tools often lack customization or fail to incorporate visualization design constraints.
- Balancing color discriminability and aesthetic preference is a key challenge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate Colorgorical, a novel web-based tool for generating discriminable and aesthetically preferable categorical color palettes.
- To assess the impact of user-defined importances on color selection criteria.
- To compare Colorgorical-generated palettes against established benchmark palettes.
Main Methods:
- Colorgorical employs iterative semi-random sampling in CIELAB space.
- Colors are scored based on Perceptual Distance, Name Difference, Name Uniqueness, and Pair Preference.
- User-defined importances adjust the weighting of these scoring functions.
Main Results:
- Scoring functions were verified to measure distinct color attributes.
- Slider manipulations in Colorgorical consistently produced palettes matching desired discriminability-preference balances.
- Colorgorical palettes demonstrated comparable or superior discriminability and preference over benchmark palettes (ColorBrewer, Microsoft, Tableau, Random).
Conclusions:
- Colorgorical enables users to create customized color palettes that meet specific visualization needs.
- The tool effectively balances color discriminability and aesthetic preference.
- Colorgorical offers a viable alternative to existing, less customizable color palette generators.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:24Color Vision
1.8K
Color perception begins in the retina, the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye. Two main theories explain how colors are seen: the trichromatic theory and the opponent-process theory. The trichromatic theory, proposed by Thomas Young in 1802 and extended by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1852, suggests that color vision is based on three types of cone receptors in the retina. These cones are sensitive to different but overlapping ranges of wavelengths corresponding to red, blue, and green.
1.8K
01:07Bar Graph
23.6K
A bar graph is also called a bar chart and consists of bars that are separated from each other. It either uses horizontal or vertical bars to show comparisons among categories. The bars can be rectangles, or they can be rectangular boxes (used in three-dimensional plots). One axis of the graph represents the specific categories being compared, and the other axis shows a discrete value. In this graph, the length of the bar for each category is proportional to the number or percent of individuals...
23.6K
01:21Gestalt Principles of Perception
1.7K
Gestalt principles provide a framework for understanding how humans perceive objects as unified wholes within their context. These principles are essential in explaining the cognitive processes that make sense of complex visual stimuli by organizing them into coherent groups. One fundamental principle is proximity, which posits that objects located close to each other are perceived as a collective group. For instance, when dots are positioned near one another, the visual system interprets them...
1.7K
01:18pV-Diagrams
6.4K
The pV diagram, which is a graph of pressure versus volume of the gas under study, is helpful in describing certain aspects of the substance. When the substance behaves like an ideal gas, the ideal gas equation describes the relationship between its pressure and volume. On a pV diagram, it is common to plot an isotherm, which is a curve showing p as a function of V with the number of molecules and the temperature fixed. Then, for an ideal gas, the product of the pressure of the gas and its...
6.4K
00:52Pareto Chart
8.0K
A Pareto chart is a bar graph or a combination of both line and bar graphs. The bar lengths represent the individual values or the frequency, while the lines represent the cumulative total values. In this chart, the longest bars are arranged on the left and the shortest bars on the right, which makes it easier to read and interpret the data. It can also be called a Pareto diagram or Pareto analysis.
The Pareto chart is named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who described the Pareto...
The Pareto chart is named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who described the Pareto...
8.0K
03:02Colors and Magnetism
14.4K
Color in Coordination Complexes
When atoms or molecules absorb light at the proper frequency, their electrons are excited to higher-energy orbitals. For many main group atoms and molecules, the absorbed photons are in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum, which cannot be detected by the human eye. For coordination compounds, the energy difference between the d orbitals often allows photons in the visible range to be absorbed and emitted, which is seen as colors by the human...
When atoms or molecules absorb light at the proper frequency, their electrons are excited to higher-energy orbitals. For many main group atoms and molecules, the absorbed photons are in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum, which cannot be detected by the human eye. For coordination compounds, the energy difference between the d orbitals often allows photons in the visible range to be absorbed and emitted, which is seen as colors by the human...
14.4K