I used to think icons were enough for my web charts...

For years I just slapped a legend on a pie chart and called it good. Then I was working on a dashboard for a project manager in Spokane who is red-green colorblind. He said, 'Fiona, I can't tell the difference between the 'approved' and 'pending' slices at all.' That was about 8 months ago. I started adding patterns, like cross-hatching, directly onto the chart slices themselves, not just in a separate key. Now I always combine color with a clear pattern or texture. Has anyone found a good tool for generating those patterns quickly?

2 comments

2 Comments

emmar759d ago

That Spokane project manager story hits home... my uncle has the same thing. I've been using Chart.js with a texture plugin, but honestly I still end up making a lot of the patterns by hand in a simple drawing program.

wadeyoung9d ago

My hand-drawn patterns look like a toddler did them.