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Quick answers
When should I pick Palette and scale builder?
When the story is: choropleths, heatmaps, multi-series charts, brand-safe decks.
When should I avoid Palette and scale builder?
Skip it in cases like: rainbow scales on ordered magnitude data.
Who invented or popularised it?
Cynthia Brewer ColorBrewer (2002) for cartography; later UI theme tools
What does it encode?
ordered or unordered hue sets mapped to data classes
Is it OK in ads?
Yes if one claim is visible at a glance in Meta, Google and retail print; otherwise link to a full figure.
Will a teacher accept it?
Yes for lab reports and poster boards if axes, units and a source line are present.
Palette and scale builder encodes values as ordered or unordered hue sets mapped to data classes. Cynthia Brewer ColorBrewer (2002) for cartography; later UI theme tools.
In reports, ads and assignments it fits choropleths, heatmaps, multi-series charts, brand-safe decks. Skip it when rainbow scales on ordered magnitude data.
Software
- chroma.js — Manipulate and scale colors in JavaScript. · Apache-2.0 · github.com/gka/chroma.js
- ColorBrewer — Battle-tested map palettes for sequential and diverging data. · Apache-2.0 · github.com/axismaps/colorbrewer
- d3-scale-chromatic — Color schemes used across the D3 ecosystem. · ISC · github.com/d3/d3-scale-chromatic
- Open ColorBrewer — Open ports of Brewer schemes for analysis stacks. · Apache-2.0 · github.com/sctyner/OpenColorBrewer
- Atlas palettes pillar — Teaching swatches on the viz palettes pillar - not a brand book. · CC0 examples · github.com/Tool-Lifes/viz-atlas
Exports
- Exports 1 — SVG
- Exports 2 — PDF
- Exports 3 — EMF/SVG into slides (no screenshots)
- Exports 4 — SVG for web, PDF for print
Accessibility
- Accessibility 1 — Never hue alone. Stack pattern, label and position.
- Accessibility 2 — 4.5:1 for text, 3:1 for large marks.
- Accessibility 3 — Short alt text on the chart; numbers also as an HTML table.
- Accessibility 4 — Motion only as emphasis. Honour prefers-reduced-motion.
Palette and scale builder: honour ordered or unordered hue sets mapped to data classes, and switch when rainbow scales on ordered magnitude data.