Paul Tol’s Colour Schemes

N. Frerebeau

2019-10-26

library(khroma)

1 Introduction

Tol (2018) offers carefully chosen schemes, ready for each type of data, with colours that are:

All the scales presented in Paul Tol’s technical note (issue 3.1, 2018-09-23) are implemented here, for use with base R graphics or ggplot2.

2 Qualitative data

According to Paul Tol’s technical note, the bright, contrast, vibrant and muted colour schemes are colour-blind safe.

The light colour scheme is reasonably distinct for both normal or colour-blind vision and is intended to fill labelled cells.

The pale and dark schemes are not very distinct in either normal or colour-blind vision and should be used as a text background or to highlight a cell in a table.

The qualitative colour schemes must be used as given (no interpolation): colours are picked up to the maximum number of supported values. Refer to the original document for details about the recommended uses (see references).

Scheme Max. colours
bright 7
contrast 3
vibrant 7
muted 9
pale 6
dark 6
light 9

2.1 bright

2.2 contrast

2.3 vibrant

2.4 muted

2.5 light

2.6 pale and dark

3 Diverging data

If more colours than defined are needed from a given scheme, the colour coordinates are linearly interpolated to provide a continuous version of the scheme.

Scheme Num. of colours Bad data
sunset 11 #FFFFFF
BuRd 9 #FFEE99
PRGn 9 #FFEE99

3.1 sunset

3.2 BuRd

3.3 PRGn

4 Sequential data

If more colours than defined are needed from a given scheme, the colour coordinates are linearly interpolated to provide a continuous version of the scheme, with the exception of the discrete rainbow scheme (see below).

Scheme Num. of colours Bad data
YlOrBr 9 #888888
iridescent 23 #999999
discrete rainbow 23 #777777
smooth rainbow 34 #666666

4.1 YlOrBr

4.2 iridescent

4.3 rainbow

As a general rule, ordered data should not be represented using a rainbow scheme. There are three main arguments against such use (Tol 2018):

If such use cannot be avoided, Paul Tol’s technical note provides two colour schemes that are reasonably clear in colour-blind vision. To remain colour-blind safe, these two schemes must comply with the following conditions:

discrete rainbow
This scheme must not be interpolated.
smooth rainbow
This scheme does not have to be used over the full range.

5 Diagnostic maps

5.1 Qualitative colour schemes

Diagnostic maps for the bright, vibrant, muted and light (from top to bottom) qualitative colour schemes.Diagnostic maps for the bright, vibrant, muted and light (from top to bottom) qualitative colour schemes.Diagnostic maps for the bright, vibrant, muted and light (from top to bottom) qualitative colour schemes.Diagnostic maps for the bright, vibrant, muted and light (from top to bottom) qualitative colour schemes.

Diagnostic maps for the bright, vibrant, muted and light (from top to bottom) qualitative colour schemes.

5.2 Diverging schemes

Diagnostic maps for the sunset, BuRd and PRGn (from top to bottom) diverging colour schemes.Diagnostic maps for the sunset, BuRd and PRGn (from top to bottom) diverging colour schemes.Diagnostic maps for the sunset, BuRd and PRGn (from top to bottom) diverging colour schemes.

Diagnostic maps for the sunset, BuRd and PRGn (from top to bottom) diverging colour schemes.

5.3 Sequential schemes

Diagnostic maps for the YlOrBr, iridescent, discrete rainbow and smooth rainbow (from top to bottom) sequential colour schemes.Diagnostic maps for the YlOrBr, iridescent, discrete rainbow and smooth rainbow (from top to bottom) sequential colour schemes.Diagnostic maps for the YlOrBr, iridescent, discrete rainbow and smooth rainbow (from top to bottom) sequential colour schemes.Diagnostic maps for the YlOrBr, iridescent, discrete rainbow and smooth rainbow (from top to bottom) sequential colour schemes.

Diagnostic maps for the YlOrBr, iridescent, discrete rainbow and smooth rainbow (from top to bottom) sequential colour schemes.

References

Tol, Paul. 2018. “Colour Schemes.” Technical note SRON/EPS/TN/09-002 3.1. SRON. https://personal.sron.nl/~pault/data/colourschemes.pdf.