On Colour in Data Visualisation

Data visualisation is thinking made visible –
analytical reasoning in visual form, supporting better decisions.

Colour Is Meaning, Not Decoration

Colour in data visualisation is neither decoration nor corporate branding – it is meaning.

Yet many charts still use colour for style or branding rather than meaning:
to decorate (assuming colourful means engaging),
or to apply corporate palette for the sake of a “professional” appearance.

They may look polished – even impressive –
but they shift attention from what the data means to how it looks.
Form over substance.

When analytical structure is explicit, colour has something precise to encode. When structure is missing, colour becomes decoration.

Decoration and Branding Serve Identity – Not Insight

Decoration palettes serve aesthetics.
Corporate colours serve identity.
Analytical colours should serve understanding.

Colour is emotionally powerful – but in analytical work, that power only helps when it encodes meaning from the data. Otherwise it becomes noise – attention without understanding.

When used for decoration, it pulls attention toward style instead of substance.
When used for branding, it signals identity rather than insight.
It not only distracts – it can obscure the signals that matter.

Meaning Should Come From the Data

The goal in data visualisation isn’t to make charts in-style or on-brand –
it’s to make them meaningful.
Meaning should come from the data –
not from aesthetics, and not from branding.

A useful question:

“Is this colour expressing meaning – or simply adding impression?”

Let the Data Speak

When colour carries analytical meaning – favourable, unfavourable, or calling attention – insight becomes clearer, faster, and more honest.

Let data speak in its own colours.