Finally came around on using patterns instead of just color for charts

I used to think adding patterns to graphs was overkill, like why bother if the colors look fine to me. Then last month I was presenting quarterly sales data at a team meeting and my coworker Dave, who's been colorblind his whole life, quietly told me he couldn't tell the red and green bars apart. I felt awful. He said he's used to it but I realized I'd been making stuff that literally excluded people for years without a second thought. So I reworked that same chart with diagonal lines on the red bars and dots on the green ones, and now Dave says he can actually follow along. What really convinced me is that the patterns don't even look cluttered when you keep them simple, just a few basic fills. Since then I've been adding them to all my data visuals at work, even the ones nobody complains about. Has anyone else had that moment where you realize you were making things harder for someone without knowing it?

2 comments

2 Comments

mark_fisher481d ago

Did you end up keeping the same color palette you already had, or did you change it up completely once patterns entered the picture?

blaker751d ago

Kept the same colors actually. Just layered simple patterns on top. Red bars got diagonal lines, green got dots, blue kept solid. Took maybe ten extra minutes in Excel to set up but it's been worth it. Dave even joked last week that the patterns make the charts look more "professional" which I thought was funny.