CARTOColors | Data-driven color schemes for insightful maps

Why does data visualization matter?

Great data visualization helps your user easily understand your analysis and quickly make a decision - and color is a big part of that!

Variations in lightness make these schemes ideal for mapping orderable or numeric data that progress from low to high using colors that range from light to dark (or vice versa).Think about basemap contrast. For a light basemap, darker shades should denote high values; for dark basemaps, this should be reversed.

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Highlight values above and below a mid-point in quantitative data with these schemes. The middle color is assigned to the critical value with two sequential type palettes at either end assigned to values above or below. Diverging schemes are ideal for denoting a range of positive or negative values, such as change over time.

Beware the red-green color ramp! 8% of men and 0.5% of women suffer from red-green color blindness, and may struggle to interpret this color scheme.

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Demonstrate categorical differences in qualitative data with these color schemes that use different hues with consistent steps in lightness and saturation. Qualitative data is ideal for communicating data such as categories of store or geosegmentation.