Categorical palette
A categorical palette is a set of visually distinguishable colors assigned to separate categories without implying magnitude or order.
Everyday Data Visualization
A categorical color palette is a set of distinguishable colors assigned to separate data categories.
- How it is used
- Uses categorical palettes to distinguish separate groups in visualizations without implying an order.
- How deep it goes
- Explains selection trade-offs and practical generation approaches, while deferring alternatives for charts with excessive categories.
- Examples
- Uses a sunset photo, color-wheel schemes, generated five-color palettes, and colorblind-friendly Likert-scale colors.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via Google’s Art Palette or Coolors, then adjust generated colors for clearer category separation.
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D3.js in Action, Third Edition
A categorical color is a distinct color assigned to identify a nominal category without implying magnitude or order.
- How it is used
- Maps nominal categories to distinct colors in data visualizations without implying order or magnitude.
- How deep it goes
- Defines nominal mapping and demonstrates palette selection for eight categories, but stops short of implementation code.
- Examples
- Uses eight painting subjects, letters, drawings, similar hues, brightness variations, patterns, and shapes as concrete palette examples.
- What you can do after
- Apply categorical colors to nominal data and plan multi-category palettes with contrast and double-encoding safeguards.
Read how D3.js in Action, Third Edition explains categorical palette →
Related concepts
- double-encodingused by · Double-encoding is the technique of representing the same information through two distinct visual or semantic channels so that one channel can compensate for limitations in another.
- categorical datauses · Categorical data consists of values representing membership in a discrete set of named or ordered categories rather than measured numerical magnitudes.
- color palettekind of · A selected set of colors intended for coordinated use in visual design or representation.
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