Misusing or Overusing Color

We've already seen several examples of misused or overused color. The remaining point that I want to emphasize here is that color should not be used haphazardly.

Color choices should be made thoughtfully, with an understanding of how we perceive color and the significance of color differences. Some colors are hot and demand our attention, while others are cooler and less visible. When any color appears as a contrast relative to the norm, our eyes pay attention and our brains attempt to assign meaning to that contrast. When colors in two different sections of a dashboard are the same, we are tempted to relate them to one another. We merrily assume that we can use colors such as red, yellow, and green to assign important meanings to data, but in doing so we exclude the 10% of males and 1% of females who are color-blind. In Chapter 4, Tapping into the Power of Visual Perception, we'll learn a bit about color and how it can be used meaningfully and powerfully.


Clarifying the Vision

Variations in Dashboard Uses and Data

Thirteen Common Mistakes in Dashboard Design

Tapping into the Power of Visual Perception

Eloquence Through Simplicity

Effective Dashboard Display Media

Designing Dashboards for Usability

Putting It All Together



Information Dashboard Design. The Effective Visual Communication of Data
Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data
ISBN: 0596100167
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 80
Authors: Stephen Few

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