Optimize the use of colours?

July 13, 2022

This post was originally published on The Data School blog between 2018 and July 2025, before our program was renamed to MIP’s Analytics Career Accelerator. References throughout this article to “The Data School” or “DS” all refer to what is now MIP’s Analytics Career Accelerator. The program, its people, and its commitment to launching outstanding analytics careers remain the same – just under a new name.

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How to optimise the use of colours?

Colours portray the right meaning (red is bad, green is good, etc.)
Don’t use too many colours. Beyond around 7 to 8 hues, it’s hard to tell them apart
The colours are different enough in hue/saturation/brightness so that you can tell them apart even when they’re shown close to each other
Have enough contrast not only between your chart colours, but also between chart colours and the background colour of the canvas/the dashboard
The sum of your dashboard items look like one harmonious dashboard
Test your design with users!

Optimize the use of colours?

How to optimise the use of colours?

Colours portray the right meaning (red is bad, green is good, etc.)

Don’t use too many colours. Beyond around 7 to 8 hues, it’s hard to tell them apart

The colours are different enough in hue/saturation/brightness so that you can tell them apart even when they’re shown close to each other

Have enough contrast not only between your chart colours, but also between chart colours and the background colour of the canvas/the dashboard

The sum of your dashboard items look like one harmonious dashboard

Test your design with users!

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