Vote for more pretty default colors in charts

Hi chart users,

Would you like to see nice new default colors in new charts?
Vote for
your favorite here:

http://ui.openoffice.org/VisualDesign/OOoChart_
colors_drafts.html

Have fun,
Ingrid




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*CHART2: Default Colours*

"Color used well can enhance and clarify a
presentation. Color used 
poorly will obscure, muddle and confuse.*
-- Maureen Stone

Unfortunately, people have difficulty learning this simple
fact. I just 
voted for the new default pallet to be used in Chart2, yet I
was NOT 
very impressed by the various pallets. The last colour
scheme (number 
12, blue - yellow) is probably the better one, but even this
one lacks 
professionalism.

*What is the problem*?

As the first quote from Maureen Stone says, *too many
colors* will 
obscure and confuse. Therefore I will try to expand this
concept further 
and add some *real-life examples* from professional
presentations.


A few remarks are needed before expanding this issue:
1.) EXAMPLES
============
I will add some examples as jpg-images to better show the
reasoning for 
the colours.

I attach some *professional charts* taken from the WHO 2005
and 2006 
reports. The full reports (some 5 - 7 MB) can be downloaded
from 
htt
p://www.who.int/entity/whr/2005/whr2005_en.pdf and 
http://www.w
ho.int/whr/2006/whr06_en.pdf (while for older reports
see 
http://
www.who.int/whr/previous/en/index.html). Please take a
look at 
these charts, they look really good.

2.) BLACK-WHITE
===============
Sometimes, charts get printed on *black-white printers*, or
colour 
presentations are copied on a *black-white photocopying
machine* (quite 
often). Many colour-schemes fail poorly in this instance due
to poor 
contrast/luminosity difference between 2 neighboring
fields.

3.) PREVIOUSLY e-MAILED
=======================
2.) I e-mailed a similar post to the chart mailing list.
However, 
presumably because I appended some jpg-images, the post
never showed up.
2'.) I sent a similar e-mail (with jpg-attachements)
directly to people 
working for Sun (e.g. to Ingrid Halama), but got NO response
either, so 
it was presumably deleted as well.
2''.) this is my third attempt and I will post it as a
comment to issue 
7019 (http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=7019).
I will 
attach the beforementioned jpg-images to that issue, too.
This is a 
greatly expanded review.


3.) TOC
=======
This document will be organised as follows:
a. INTRODUCTION
b. BAR CHARTS
b'. 2-3 Colours
b''. MONOCHROME MODEL
c. PIE CHARTS and other Chart Types
d. DEFAULT EXAMPLES
e. CONCLUSIONS


a. INTRODUCTION
===============

Colours used in a chart should clarify the chart and *NOT
confuse the 
viewer*. Unfortunately, this is difficult when choosing many
colours as 
they 1.) tend to *distract* the viewer from the relevant
information and 
2.) *obscure* some of the colours used.

This is the reason why professional presentations *never*
use more than 
5 different colour groups (hue-groups). Actually, IF more
groups seem to 
be needed, there are 2 ways to resolve this issue:
- either the user does NOT recognise the *essential parts*
in the chart 
(to *highlight* only the *essential information*), or
- (IF – rarely – the previous statement does NOT apply)
use basically a 
*single hue-group*

This will be further expanded for *BAR-Charts* and
separately for the 
*OTHER-Chart types*.


b. BAR CHARTS
=============

Bar charts are likely to contain many groups of data. A
common mistake 
is to draw every BAR in a *different colour*. This is both
unnecessary 
and obstructs the meaning of the bar chart.

A good colour-scheme will have to distinguish between:
B1. are there only 2 groups of data: then use of 2 oppsoing
colours 
(significantly different hues) is OK. Also, make the
luminosity 
different, so that black-white printing looks good, too.

B2. are there 3-5 groups of data: selecting 3 to 5 different
colours is 
feasible, BUT alternatives using only 1-2 colours are
equally effective.

B3. more than 5 bars: *NEVER* use more than 5
colour-groups!!!

To quote Maureen Stone again:
"In most design situations, the best results are
achieved by limiting 
hue to a palette of two or three colors, and using hue and
chroma 
variations within these hues to create distinguishably
different colors. 
Such a palette is both aesthetically pleasing and
functional. It 
minimizes an over-dependence on hue variation (which can
cause visual 
clutter), and replaces it with careful control of value and
chroma. 
Figure 8 shows several such palettes, and their location on
the hue wheel."
-- Maureen Stone


There are some solutions to this problem:
i.) do we need to *highlight SOMETHING*?
NO => just use the same colour for every bar
(*MONOCHROME*)

ii.) IF we need to highlight 1 or 2 groups of data, apply a
different 
colour only to those 1-2 groups (maximum colours used = 3).
IF you need 
to highlight more than 3 groups, you are doing something
wrong.
[in the rare situation, where a bar graph is drawn for a
group of 4 or 
more items repeated several times, use either monochrome, or
see later 
for pie-charts, BUT strong consideration should be given NOT
to compare 
2 or more groups of MORE THAN 4 items each]


C. PIE CHARTS (& other chart types)
=============
A similar reasoning applies to pie charts as for bar charts:
NEVER use 
more than 5 colour-groups.

However, pie charts often have more data groups, therefore
sometimes a 
different solution is needed:
C1. 2 data groups => NEVER draw a pie chart with ONLY 2
segments (as the 
second segment will always be (1 - first segment))
C2. 3-4(-5) data groups: use of 3-(5) different colour
groups is 
possible (though alternatives are equally effective)
C3. more than 5 data groups: this is tricky; obviously we
can NOT use a 
monochrome drawing.

HOWEVER, more than 5 different colour groups is a strong NO.
Instead, 
use only one colour group (rarely 2), with:
- slight hue-variations (NOTE: the next version is better)
- *contrast/luminosity* changes: 2 adjacent colours should
have very 
different luminosities, so that black-white printing looks
OK and also 
viewing in colour highlights the difference.

IF there are more than 8-10 groups of data, the user makes
something 
wrong!!! Some of the groups should be contracted into a
single group.

Also, with more than 5 colours, some of the colours are
chosen as 
*shades of gray* (+ sometimes the colour black). This fits
in the 
concept of only luminosity changes (with sometimes colour
saturation 
changes).

An example will be presented from the WHO report.

Other charts (like line and dot charts) bear similarity to
the pie charts.


D. DEFAULT EXAMPLES
===================

I have looked to the various chart styles on the voting
page. Some look 
interesting, though NONE looks really professionally. If I
was to choose 
from the available, I'll probably prefer the last one
(number 12, blue - 
yellow - for which I actually voted). This is the only one
to have a 
professional look. All multi-colour styles just don't seem
right. Please 
NOTE that even this one fails for the bar chart: there are
simply to 
many colours. Instead use either a single colour or only 2
colours 
(whith the second one to highlight only important parts of
the bar chart).

Various other professional examples from WHO reports will be
presented 
in a second writer document attached to the previous issue.


CONCLUSIONS
============

a.) *multi-coloured charts* actually never look
professional
IF the chart contains many groups of data, instead of using
dozens of 
colours, consider:
i.) a *single colour* (see attached
Chart_Bars_Styles_Blue.jpg)
ii.) a limited number of similar colours + shades of gray
(see examples 
Chart_Bars_Styles_Orange.jpg, and most other examples)

In this latter case, consider using the highest contrast
colour-pair to 
highlight only the important aspects of the chart.
Therefore, it is 
really NOT important to have dozens of colours, BUT rather a
limited 
number of them and use them appropriately.

b.) there is a huge difference if somebody draws a chart
only with 2 
groups of data (high contrast might be OK in this case), 3-5
groups 
(medium contrast and optimal colour spread) or > 5 groups
(various 
shades/hues of same colour interspersed with gray tones).
Having more 
than 5 completely different (widely differing) colours looks
awfully.


c.) As a last note: I would prefer more than one colour
scheme. As 
pointed previously, different schemes for the BAR and PIE
charts, as 
well as the 2 groups case, 3-5 and >5 groups case is also
warranted.

Cheers,

Leonard Mada

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Hi Leonard,

There are different peoples with different needs. In fact
there were 
people who want more than 12 colors in their palette. There
is 
absolutely no need to call people with a different need or
opinion stupid.

The only solution to address the different needs or tastes
is to offer 
multiple palettes. This is addresses with issue 74992
http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=74992


But the default palette should fit the majorities taste. The
voting 
result will show whether the majority did like the more
monochrome color 
sets more or not.

Ingrid

Leonard Mada wrote:
> *CHART2: Default Colours*
> 
> "Color used well can enhance and clarify a
presentation. Color used 
> poorly will obscure, muddle and confuse.*
> -- Maureen Stone
> 
> Unfortunately, people have difficulty learning this
simple fact. I just 
> voted for the new default pallet to be used in Chart2,
yet I was NOT 
> very impressed by the various pallets. The last colour
scheme (number 
> 12, blue - yellow) is probably the better one, but even
this one lacks 
> professionalism.
> 
> *What is the problem*?
> 
> As the first quote from Maureen Stone says, *too many
colors* will 
> obscure and confuse. Therefore I will try to expand
this concept further 
> and add some *real-life examples* from professional
presentations.
> 
> 
> A few remarks are needed before expanding this issue:
> 1.) EXAMPLES
> ============
> I will add some examples as jpg-images to better show
the reasoning for 
> the colours.
> 
> I attach some *professional charts* taken from the WHO
2005 and 2006 
> reports. The full reports (some 5 - 7 MB) can be
downloaded from 
> htt
p://www.who.int/entity/whr/2005/whr2005_en.pdf and 
> http://www.w
ho.int/whr/2006/whr06_en.pdf (while for older reports
see 
> http://
www.who.int/whr/previous/en/index.html). Please take a
look at 
> these charts, they look really good.
> 
> 2.) BLACK-WHITE
> ===============
> Sometimes, charts get printed on *black-white
printers*, or colour 
> presentations are copied on a *black-white photocopying
machine* (quite 
> often). Many colour-schemes fail poorly in this
instance due to poor 
> contrast/luminosity difference between 2 neighboring
fields.
> 
> 3.) PREVIOUSLY e-MAILED
> =======================
> 2.) I e-mailed a similar post to the chart mailing
list. However, 
> presumably because I appended some jpg-images, the post
never showed up.
> 2'.) I sent a similar e-mail (with jpg-attachements)
directly to people 
> working for Sun (e.g. to Ingrid Halama), but got NO
response either, so 
> it was presumably deleted as well.
> 2''.) this is my third attempt and I will post it as a
comment to issue 
> 7019 (http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=7019).
I will 
> attach the beforementioned jpg-images to that issue,
too. This is a 
> greatly expanded review.
> 
> 
> 3.) TOC
> =======
> This document will be organised as follows:
> a. INTRODUCTION
> b. BAR CHARTS
> b'. 2-3 Colours
> b''. MONOCHROME MODEL
> c. PIE CHARTS and other Chart Types
> d. DEFAULT EXAMPLES
> e. CONCLUSIONS
> 
> 
> a. INTRODUCTION
> ===============
> 
> Colours used in a chart should clarify the chart and
*NOT confuse the 
> viewer*. Unfortunately, this is difficult when choosing
many colours as 
> they 1.) tend to *distract* the viewer from the
relevant information and 
> 2.) *obscure* some of the colours used.
> 
> This is the reason why professional presentations
*never* use more than 
> 5 different colour groups (hue-groups). Actually, IF
more groups seem to 
> be needed, there are 2 ways to resolve this issue:
> - either the user does NOT recognise the *essential
parts* in the chart 
> (to *highlight* only the *essential information*), or
> - (IF – rarely – the previous statement does NOT
apply) use basically a 
> *single hue-group*
> 
> This will be further expanded for *BAR-Charts* and
separately for the 
> *OTHER-Chart types*.
> 
> 
> b. BAR CHARTS
> =============
> 
> Bar charts are likely to contain many groups of data. A
common mistake 
> is to draw every BAR in a *different colour*. This is
both unnecessary 
> and obstructs the meaning of the bar chart.
> 
> A good colour-scheme will have to distinguish between:
> B1. are there only 2 groups of data: then use of 2
oppsoing colours 
> (significantly different hues) is OK. Also, make the
luminosity 
> different, so that black-white printing looks good,
too.
> 
> B2. are there 3-5 groups of data: selecting 3 to 5
different colours is 
> feasible, BUT alternatives using only 1-2 colours are
equally effective.
> 
> B3. more than 5 bars: *NEVER* use more than 5
colour-groups!!!
> 
> To quote Maureen Stone again:
> "In most design situations, the best results are
achieved by limiting 
> hue to a palette of two or three colors, and using hue
and chroma 
> variations within these hues to create distinguishably
different colors. 
> Such a palette is both aesthetically pleasing and
functional. It 
> minimizes an over-dependence on hue variation (which
can cause visual 
> clutter), and replaces it with careful control of value
and chroma. 
> Figure 8 shows several such palettes, and their
location on the hue wheel."
> -- Maureen Stone
> 
> 
> There are some solutions to this problem:
> i.) do we need to *highlight SOMETHING*?
> NO => just use the same colour for every bar
(*MONOCHROME*)
> 
> ii.) IF we need to highlight 1 or 2 groups of data,
apply a different 
> colour only to those 1-2 groups (maximum colours used =
3). IF you need 
> to highlight more than 3 groups, you are doing
something wrong.
> [in the rare situation, where a bar graph is drawn for
a group of 4 or 
> more items repeated several times, use either
monochrome, or see later 
> for pie-charts, BUT strong consideration should be
given NOT to compare 
> 2 or more groups of MORE THAN 4 items each]
> 
> 
> C. PIE CHARTS (& other chart types)
> =============
> A similar reasoning applies to pie charts as for bar
charts: NEVER use 
> more than 5 colour-groups.
> 
> However, pie charts often have more data groups,
therefore sometimes a 
> different solution is needed:
> C1. 2 data groups => NEVER draw a pie chart with
ONLY 2 segments (as the 
> second segment will always be (1 - first segment))
> C2. 3-4(-5) data groups: use of 3-(5) different colour
groups is 
> possible (though alternatives are equally effective)
> C3. more than 5 data groups: this is tricky; obviously
we can NOT use a 
> monochrome drawing.
> 
> HOWEVER, more than 5 different colour groups is a
strong NO. Instead, 
> use only one colour group (rarely 2), with:
> - slight hue-variations (NOTE: the next version is
better)
> - *contrast/luminosity* changes: 2 adjacent colours
should have very 
> different luminosities, so that black-white printing
looks OK and also 
> viewing in colour highlights the difference.
> 
> IF there are more than 8-10 groups of data, the user
makes something 
> wrong!!! Some of the groups should be contracted into a
single group.
> 
> Also, with more than 5 colours, some of the colours are
chosen as 
> *shades of gray* (+ sometimes the colour black). This
fits in the 
> concept of only luminosity changes (with sometimes
colour saturation 
> changes).
> 
> An example will be presented from the WHO report.
> 
> Other charts (like line and dot charts) bear similarity
to the pie charts.
> 
> 
> D. DEFAULT EXAMPLES
> ===================
> 
> I have looked to the various chart styles on the voting
page. Some look 
> interesting, though NONE looks really professionally.
If I was to choose 
> from the available, I'll probably prefer the last one
(number 12, blue - 
> yellow - for which I actually voted). This is the only
one to have a 
> professional look. All multi-colour styles just don't
seem right. Please 
> NOTE that even this one fails for the bar chart: there
are simply to 
> many colours. Instead use either a single colour or
only 2 colours 
> (whith the second one to highlight only important parts
of the bar chart).
> 
> Various other professional examples from WHO reports
will be presented 
> in a second writer document attached to the previous
issue.
> 
> 
> CONCLUSIONS
> ============
> 
> a.) *multi-coloured charts* actually never look
professional
> IF the chart contains many groups of data, instead of
using dozens of 
> colours, consider:
> i.) a *single colour* (see attached
Chart_Bars_Styles_Blue.jpg)
> ii.) a limited number of similar colours + shades of
gray (see examples 
> Chart_Bars_Styles_Orange.jpg, and most other examples)
> 
> In this latter case, consider using the highest
contrast colour-pair to 
> highlight only the important aspects of the chart.
Therefore, it is 
> really NOT important to have dozens of colours, BUT
rather a limited 
> number of them and use them appropriately.
> 
> b.) there is a huge difference if somebody draws a
chart only with 2 
> groups of data (high contrast might be OK in this
case), 3-5 groups 
> (medium contrast and optimal colour spread) or > 5
groups (various 
> shades/hues of same colour interspersed with gray
tones). Having more 
> than 5 completely different (widely differing) colours
looks awfully.
> 
> 
> c.) As a last note: I would prefer more than one colour
scheme. As 
> pointed previously, different schemes for the BAR and
PIE charts, as 
> well as the 2 groups case, 3-5 and >5 groups case is
also warranted.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Leonard Mada
> 
>
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> 

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