Colors & Harmony

Hi Reader, today we talk about a topic that relates to beauty, design, aesthetics.

It’s about colors 🌈

They determine how well something looks - but also influence how we interpret data:

Why It Matters So Much

Coloration isn’t decoration. It shapes attention, emotion, and affects interpretation—especially in data visualizations.

Here is a suboptimal example:
Could you tell how high each bar is or what the graph is trying to convey without getting distracted by the colors?

Whether you’re designing a poster, a figure for publication, or your PowerPoint slides, using colors intentionally will set you apart.

It will make your message clearer, more memorable, and more trustworthy. Another example:

As you might have noticed - consciously or subconsciously:

• Warm colors feel louder and heavier. In bar charts, red bars often appear larger than equally sized blue ones.
• Saturation increases visual weight - a bright green seems more “important” than a muted grey, even when the data says otherwise.
• Color contrast affects perceived size. A yellow bar on white feels smaller than the same yellow on black.

How can you use colors optimally?

Do It Like the Pros—Don’t Choose Colors Randomly

Use a color palette (i.e., colors with a specific position on the wheel) because they feel cohesive and convey a sense of beauty.

Doing so will ensure your colors look good together and you won’t overemphasize one bar or line by accident.

• Use a tool like ColorBrewer (this is the first tool my supervisor recommended to me) or Colormind to generate balanced palettes.
• If you have a main color you want to apply, use software like COLORS.tools, Canva or figma to create fitting palettes.

→ Use one of these tools right now to experience what color harmony can mean (and how satisfying playing with these tools can be).

Use Color to Guide, Not Decorate

Of course, color should make your content more visually appealing. However, you can also use it to highlight structure and guide your reader.

• You can emphasize one line in a multi-line chart by greying out the rest.
• By using a brighter green for better and red tones for worse outcomes, you automatically suggest your interpretation.

→ Avoid the Rainbow Trap: More colors ≠ better.

More than 5 hues can make a chart harder to read. Use brightness and shape as alternatives to differentiate categories.

Stay Consistent

Colors can help you reader to remember, therefore:

• Use a single palette across your paper, poster, or presentation.
• Use consistent colors across figures for the same categories—it will help people remember your groups/samples/categories.

→ Double-check your colors before you make a decision.

For example, you might want to check for colorblindness: Up to 8% of men are red/green blind. Use tools like the Coblis Simulator to check your designs - try it, it is fascinating!

Are your chosen colors well visible? Two blue tones might be easily distinguished in a large bar chart—but what if they are two close-by lines in a chart?

How We Feel Today