In Tableau, while creating a chart, assigning only one color or color palette by default might limit the desired level of detail. However, with a workaround, it’s possible to incorporate two coordinated colors for different levels of detail within the same chart. Follow these steps to achieve this in a Tree Map visualization:
Initial Chart Setup:
Suppose you’ve created a Tree Map for Category by SUM(Sales), assigning individual colors to each box based on a specific measure.
Expanding Detail Levels:
Add the second level of detail to “Detail” in the Marks Card. This step will present a chart with added detail but with individual colors:
Adjusting Color Representation:
Change the same dimension added before from “Detail” to “Color” by clicking the icon next to the pill in the Marks Card.
This modification will result in a chart displaying the Categories in a unified color and Subcategories in various shades of that color:
Sorting Colors:
To align the shades of color based on data values, click on the second level of detail (e.g., Sub-Category) and access the drop-down menu on the pill in the Marks Card.
Navigate to Sort > Sort By: Field > Descending > Field Name: Your Sorting Field > Aggregation: Preferred Aggregation. This will arrange the color shades in descending order based on your sorting field:
By following these steps, you can create various types of charts (such as Sunburst charts, stacked bars, etc.) using colors effectively to establish meaningful relationships between different levels of data within a single visualization.