Limit your palette

Using too many colours cause the message to get lost. It can also cause overwhelm and confuse your users.

To communicate clearly, limit the number of colours you use in your design to 3-colours.

Divide colour usage according to the 60-30-10 rule.

The primary colour should dominate 60% of your visualisation,
30% should be dedicated to the secondary colour
10% is an accent colour that will highlight important information.

If you need more contrast, consider using shades of the colours you already have.

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Use colour for the right reason

As children, we often chose colours because we liked them. But as adults, we need to think more carefully about why we use colour.

Resist the urge to use colour for the sake of being colourful. Instead, use colour selectively. Use it to direct attention or highlight...

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Creating with colour

Colour has an emotional component to it. That is why we feel at home and relaxed in some rooms and unwelcome or tense in others. Colours also help us communicate, such as the red stop sign or orange traffic cone. Colours can help us display creativity and establish brands.

However, ...

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Understand how colour meanings differ with culture

Colours don't have the same meanings in all cultures.

A white flag might communicate a "truce" in Western and Asian cultures, but it is a silver flag in Arab or African cultures. Or, if you want a slide deck with a palette that invoke feelings of happiness, green, yellow, w...

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Design with accessibility in mind

Nearly 300 million people worldwide are colourblind.

The most prevalent issue for colourblindness involves green and red. Generally, try to avoid using shades of red and green. If you have to use one or both of these colours, consider using a text table as well.

Many ...

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