an empirical study of colour use - aucklandpaul/talks/colour.pdfan empirical study of colour use...

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An Empirical Study of Colour Use

Paul Murrell and Ross Ihaka

The University of AucklandNew Zealand

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Introduction

• A motivating example

• Why is it so hard to choose colours?

• Colour spaces

• Learning from the experts

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Introduction

• A motivating example

• Why is it so hard to choose colours?

• Colour spaces

• Learning from the experts

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Introduction

• A motivating example

• Why is it so hard to choose colours?

• Colour spaces

• Learning from the experts

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Introduction

• A motivating example

• Why is it so hard to choose colours?

• Colour spaces

• Learning from the experts

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Introduction

• A motivating example

• Why is it so hard to choose colours?

• Colour spaces

• Learning from the experts

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A motivating example

• Filling regions in barplots (or piecharts, or ...)

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A motivating example

• Filling regions in barplots (or piecharts, or ...)

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Why is it so hard to choose colours?

• Lack of natural talent

• Lack of knowledge about how colour works

• Lack of tools to work with colour

• Lack of knowledge about how to select colours

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Why is it so hard to choose colours?

• Lack of natural talent

• Lack of knowledge about how colour works

• Lack of tools to work with colour

• Lack of knowledge about how to select colours

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Why is it so hard to choose colours?

• Lack of natural talent

• Lack of knowledge about how colour works

• Lack of tools to work with colour

• Lack of knowledge about how to select colours

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Why is it so hard to choose colours?

• Lack of natural talent

• Lack of knowledge about how colour works

• Lack of tools to work with colour

• Lack of knowledge about how to select colours

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Why is it so hard to choose colours?

• Lack of natural talent

• Lack of knowledge about how colour works

• Lack of tools to work with colour

• Lack of knowledge about how to select colours

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Colour spacesThere are three main perceptual components to colour:

• hue (colour)

• lightness (light or dark)

• saturation (brightness, colourfulness)

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Colour spacesThere are three main perceptual components to colour:

• hue (colour)

• lightness (light or dark)

• saturation (brightness, colourfulness)

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Colour spacesThere are three main perceptual components to colour:

• hue (colour)

• lightness (light or dark)

• saturation (brightness, colourfulness)

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Colour spacesThere are three main perceptual components to colour:

• hue (colour)

• lightness (light or dark)

• saturation (brightness, colourfulness)

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Colour spaces• RGB colour space confounds hue, lightness, and sat-

uration.

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Colour spaces• HSV colour space directly addresses hue, lightness,

and saturation.

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Colour spaces• CIE L*u*v* colour space directly addresses hue, light-

ness, and saturation AND attempts to make unit stepsperceptually uniform.

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Learning from the experts

• Interior designers select colours for large areas

• Interior design palettes are available on the internet

• Are there any obvious patterns to these palettes?

• View the palettes in CIE L*u*v* space

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Learning from the experts

• Interior designers select colours for large areas

• Interior design palettes are available on the internet

• Are there any obvious patterns to these palettes?

• View the palettes in CIE L*u*v* space

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Learning from the experts

• Interior designers select colours for large areas

• Interior design palettes are available on the internet

• Are there any obvious patterns to these palettes?

• View the palettes in CIE L*u*v* space

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Learning from the experts

• Interior designers select colours for large areas

• Interior design palettes are available on the internet

• Are there any obvious patterns to these palettes?

• View the palettes in CIE L*u*v* space

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Learning from the experts

• Interior designers select colours for large areas

• Interior design palettes are available on the internet

• Are there any obvious patterns to these palettes?

• View the palettes in CIE L*u*v* space

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Victorian Eclectic (“Home Decore” site)

Victorian Eclectic

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Victorian Eclectic

L

−20 0 20 40 60

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5060

7080

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−20 0 20 40 60

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Victorian Eclectic

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Victorian Eclectic

1020

3040

5060

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Victorian Eclectic Palette

Average Linkage Clustering

Hei

ght

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Applying the Expert Example

Basic observations from the experts:

• L between 50 and 80

• U between -20 and 60

• V between -20 and 60

Modifications for barplots:

• Evenly spaced for “equal” difference

• Equal lightness for “equal impact”

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Applying the Expert Example

Basic observations from the experts:

• L between 50 and 80

• U between -20 and 60

• V between -20 and 60

Modifications for barplots:

• Evenly spaced for “equal” difference

• Equal lightness for “equal impact”

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Applying the Expert Example

Basic observations from the experts:

• L between 50 and 80

• U between -20 and 60

• V between -20 and 60

Modifications for barplots:

• Evenly spaced for “equal” difference

• Equal lightness for “equal impact”

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Applying the Expert Example

Basic observations from the experts:

• L between 50 and 80

• U between -20 and 60

• V between -20 and 60

Modifications for barplots:

• Evenly spaced for “equal” difference

• Equal lightness for “equal impact”

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Applying the Expert Example

Basic observations from the experts:

• L between 50 and 80

• U between -20 and 60

• V between -20 and 60

Modifications for barplots:

• Evenly spaced for “equal” difference

• Equal lightness for “equal impact”

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Applying the Expert Example

Basic observations from the experts:

• L between 50 and 80

• U between -20 and 60

• V between -20 and 60

Modifications for barplots:

• Evenly spaced for “equal” difference

• Equal lightness for “equal impact”

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Applying the Expert Example

• Filling regions in barplots (or piecharts, or ...)

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Learning from the experts

• The EasyRGB web site.

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EasyRGB

L

−20 20 60 100

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4050

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−80 −40 0 20 40

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Dark Sea Green

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EasyRGB

−20 0 20 40 60 80 100

−80

−60

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Dark Sea Green

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Applying the Expert Example

Basic observations from the experts:

• Halve or double the saturation

• Increase or decrease the luminance

• Generate complementary colours or triads

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Applying the Expert Example

Basic observations from the experts:

• Halve or double the saturation

• Increase or decrease the luminance

• Generate complementary colours or triads

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Applying the Expert Example

Basic observations from the experts:

• Halve or double the saturation

• Increase or decrease the luminance

• Generate complementary colours or triads

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Applying the Expert Example

Basic observations from the experts:

• Halve or double the saturation

• Increase or decrease the luminance

• Generate complementary colours or triads

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Applying the Expert Example

• Filling regions in barplots (or piecharts, or ...)

01

23

4

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Caveats

• This is just for barplots

• This is not for colour-blind

• This is not for grayscale printing

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Caveats

• This is just for barplots

• This is not for colour-blind

• This is not for grayscale printing

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Caveats

• This is just for barplots

• This is not for colour-blind

• This is not for grayscale printing

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Caveats

• This is just for barplots

• This is not for colour-blind

• This is not for grayscale printing

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Conclusions

If you collect colour palettes from the web ...

... and you work in the right colour space ...

... and you treat the palette as a data set ...

... and you observe simple patterns in the data ...

... you can generate simple colour palettes of your own(which don’t make you physically ill).

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Conclusions

If you collect colour palettes from the web ...

... and you work in the right colour space ...

... and you treat the palette as a data set ...

... and you observe simple patterns in the data ...

... you can generate simple colour palettes of your own(which don’t make you physically ill).

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Conclusions

If you collect colour palettes from the web ...

... and you work in the right colour space ...

... and you treat the palette as a data set ...

... and you observe simple patterns in the data ...

... you can generate simple colour palettes of your own(which don’t make you physically ill).

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Conclusions

If you collect colour palettes from the web ...

... and you work in the right colour space ...

... and you treat the palette as a data set ...

... and you observe simple patterns in the data ...

... you can generate simple colour palettes of your own(which don’t make you physically ill).

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Conclusions

If you collect colour palettes from the web ...

... and you work in the right colour space ...

... and you treat the palette as a data set ...

... and you observe simple patterns in the data ...

... you can generate simple colour palettes of your own(which don’t make you physically ill).

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Conclusions

If you collect colour palettes from the web ...

... and you work in the right colour space ...

... and you treat the palette as a data set ...

... and you observe simple patterns in the data ...

... you can generate simple colour palettes of your own(which don’t make you physically ill).

http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/ paul/