We Are Color Blind recently discussed this pie chart that Gizmodo used in an article. While also noting the awfulness of the 3D pie chart, We Are Color Blind make some great points about designing for the
7% of males (and much fewer females) that are color blind. They have a great
tool where you can upload images or a URL and it will show you what the result would be for a color blind person.
It's not easy though - when you have three or more series to show, you reach for blue/red/green combinations first (and in Excel 2007 these are the default colors for charts now). I'm still working to a 'perfect' (there isn't one) color table that avoids the
problem colors, but still is as readable as possible for everyone.
I was interested to learn in Data Visualization that Is Colorblind-Friendly — Excel 2007? by Tim Wilson that Excel 2007's default colors are actually color-blind-friendly.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting - perhaps I get too hung up on red vs. green instead of hue of red vs. hue of green. If the color comparisons are correct the two colors are distinct still.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this was intentional or luck on Microsoft's part?