MAP COLOR AND OTHER CHANNELS

Bùi Tiến Lên

01/01/2020
Contents

1. Color Theory

2. Colormaps

3. Other Channels
 The Big Picture
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps Encode Map

Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps
Color Size, Angle, Curvature, ...
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe Color Encoding Length
Colormap Design
Hue Saturation Luminance
Other Channels Angle
Size Channels
Angle Channel
Color Map Area
Curvature Channel Categorical
Shape Channel Curvature
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling Ordered
Sequential
Volume
Diverging

Bivariate Shape

Motion
Motion
Direction, Rate,
Frequency, ...

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 Color Theory
• Color Vision
• Color Spaces
• Luminance, Saturation, and Hue
• Transparency
 Color Vision
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps
• The retina of the eye has two different kinds of receptors: rods, cones
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps
• The rods actively contribute to vision only in low-light settings and provide
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
low-resolution black and white information
Colormap Design
• The main sensors in normal lighting conditions are the cones
Other Channels
Size Channels • The visual system processes signals into three opponent color channels
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
Choroid Retina
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling
Lens

Pupil
Optic nerve
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 Color Spaces
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps • The color space of what colors the human visual system can detect is three
dimensional; that is, it can be adequately described using three separate axes
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps

• The most common color space in computer graphics is the system where
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design

Other Channels colors are specified as triples of red, green, and blue values, which is called
Size Channels
Angle Channel
the RGB system
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
• Another color space, the hue–saturation–lightness or HSL system, is more
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling
intuitive and is heavily used by artists and designers

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 HSL System
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps
• The hue axis captures what we normally think of as pure colors that are not
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps
mixed with white or black: red, blue, green, yellow, purple, and so on
Bivariate Colormaps • The saturation axis is the amount of white mixed with that pure color
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design
• The lightness axis is the amount of black mixed with a color
Other Channels
Size Channels
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Luminance, Saturation, and Hue
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps Color can be confusing in vis analysis because it is sometimes used as a

Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps
magnitude channel and sometimes as an identity channel
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
• The magnitude channel of luminance is suitable for ordered data types
Colormap Design

Other Channels
• The magnitude channel of saturation is also suitable for ordered data
Size Channels
Angle Channel
• The identity channel of hue is extremely effective for categorical data and
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
showing groupings
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

Luminance

Saturation

Hue

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 Transparency
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps • A fourth channel strongly related to the other three color channels is
transparency: information can be encoded by decreasing the opacity of a
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
mark from fully opaque to completely see-through
Colormap Design

Other Channels
• Transparency cannot be used independently of the other color channels
Size Channels
Angle Channel
• Transparency is used most often with superimposed layers, to create a
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
foreground layer that is distinguishable from the background layer
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Colormaps
• Categorical Colormaps
• Ordered Colormaps
• Bivariate Colormaps
• Colorblind-Safe Colormap Design
 Colormaps
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps • A colormap specifies a mapping between colors and data values

Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps • Using color to encode data is a powerful and flexible design choice
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design
• Colormaps can be categorical or ordered
Other Channels • ordered colormaps can be either sequential or diverging
Size Channels
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
• Colormaps can either be a continuous range of values, or segmented into
Shape Channel
Motion Channels
discrete bins of color
Texture and Stippling

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 Colormaps (cont.)
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps
Categorical Colormaps
Categorical
Ordered Colormaps Binary Categorical
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design Categorical
Other Channels
Size Channels
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling
Diverging Sequential

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 Categorical Colormaps
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps • A categorical colormap uses color to encode categories and groupings.

Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps • Categorical colormaps are normally segmented
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design
• Categorical colormaps are typically designed by using color as an integral
Other Channels identity channel to encode a single attribute
Size Channels
Angle Channel • The number of discriminable colors for coding small separated regions is
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel limited to between six and twelve bins
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Ineffective categorical colormap use
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design

Other Channels
Size Channels
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Effective categorical colormap use
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps • A large space of visual encoding possibilities for 27 categories was considered
systematically in addition to the color channel, including size and shape
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
channels and more complex glyphs
Colormap Design

Other Channels
Size Channels
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Effective categorical colormap use (cont.)
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps
• The final design uses the color channel for only four of the categories
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design

Other Channels
Size Channels
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Ordered Colormaps
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps An ordered colormap is appropriate for encoding ordinal or quantitative attributes

Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps
• A sequential colormap ranges from a minimum value to a maximum value
• A diverging colormap has two hues at the endpoints and a neutral color as a
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design

Other Channels midpoint, such as white, gray, or black, or a high-luminance color such as
Size Channels
Angle Channel
yellow
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Rainbow versus two-hue continuous colormap
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps • Many hue (rainbow) vs two-hue colormaps

Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design

Other Channels
Size Channels
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Problems with the rainbow
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps Three major problems with the common continuous rainbow colormap are
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps
• Perceptual nonlinearity
Bivariate Colormaps • The expressivity mismatch of using hue for ordering
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design
• The accuracy mismatch of using hue for fine-grained detail.
Other Channels
Size Channels One way to address all three problems is to design monotonically increasing
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
luminance colormaps
Shape Channel
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Appropriate use of rainbows
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps (a) The standard rainbow colormap is perceptually nonlinear.

(b) Perceptually linear rainbows are possible, but they are less bright
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps

with a decreased dynamic range.

Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design

Other Channels
(c) Segmented rainbows work well for categorical data when the number
Size Channels
Angle Channel
of categories is small.
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Bivariate Colormaps
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps • The safest use of the color channel is to visually encode a single attribute;
these colormaps are known as univariate.
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps

• Colormaps that encode two separate attributes are called bivariate.

Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design

Other Channels
Size Channels
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Colorblind-Safe Colormap Design
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps • Designers using color should take the common problem of red–green color
blindness into account
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps

• It is a sex-linked inherited trait that affects 8% of males and a much smaller

Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design

Other Channels proportion of females, 0.5%.

Size Channels
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Other Channels
• Size Channels
• Angle Channel
• Curvature Channel
• Shape Channel
• Motion Channels
• Texture and Stippling
 Introduction
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps • While the previously discussed channels pertaining to position and color are
highly salient, other visual channels are also an important part of the visual
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
encoding design space.
Colormap Design

Other Channels
• Other magnitude visual channels include
Size Channels
Angle Channel
• the size channels of length, area, and volume
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
• the angle/orientation/tilt channel
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling
• curvature
• Other identity channels are
• shape and motion.
• Textures and stippling use combinations of multiple channels.

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 Size Channels
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps • Size is a magnitude channel suitable for ordered data.

Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps • It interacts with most other channels
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design
• Length is one-dimensional (1D) size
Other Channels • Area is two-dimensional (2D) size
Size Channels
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
• Volume is three-dimensional (3D) size
Shape Channel
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Angle Channel
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps • The angle channel encodes magnitude information based on the orientation
of a mark: the direction that it points
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps

• With angle, the orientation of one line is judged with respect to another line
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design

Other Channels • With tilt, an orientation is judged against the global frame of the display
Size Channels
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Tiltmap
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps (a) A sequential attribute can be shown with either a line mark or an
arrow glyph in one quadrant.
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps

(b) A diverging attribute can be shown with two quadrants and an arrow
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design

Other Channels glyph.

(c) A cyclic attribute can be shown with all four quadrants and arrow
Size Channels
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
glyphs
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Curvature Channel
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps • The curvature channel is not very accurate, and it can only be used with line
marks.
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps

• It cannot be used with point marks that have no length, or area marks
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design

Other Channels because their shape is fully constrained.

Size Channels
Angle Channel
• The number of distinguishable bins for this channel is low, probably around
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
two or three
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Shape Channel
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps • The term shape is a catch-all word for a complex perceptual phenomenon
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps • Applying shape to point marks is the common case, and is easy to understand
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design
• Applying the shape channel to line marks results in stipple patterns such as
Other Channels dotted and dashed lines
Size Channels
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Motion Channels
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps • Several kinds of motion are also visual channels, including direction of
motion, velocity of motion, and flicker frequency
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps

• Motion is extremely salient, and more- over motion is very separable from all
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
Colormap Design

Other Channels other static channels

Size Channels
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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 Texture and Stippling
Color Theory
Color Vision
Color Spaces
Luminance, Saturation,
and Hue
Transparency

Colormaps The term texture refers to very small-scale patterns. It is considered as the
Categorical Colormaps
Ordered Colormaps
combination of three perceptual dimensions: orientation, scale, and contrast.
Bivariate Colormaps
Colorblind-Safe
• Texture can be used to show categorical attributes
Colormap Design

Other Channels
• Texture can also be used to show ordered attributes
The term stippling means to fill in regions of drawing with short strokes. It is a
Size Channels
Angle Channel
Curvature Channel
Shape Channel
special case of texture.
Motion Channels
Texture and Stippling

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References

Goodfellow, I., Bengio, Y., and Courville, A. (2016).

Deep learning.
MIT press.
Munzner, T. (2014).
Visualization analysis and design.
CRC press.
Russell, S. and Norvig, P. (2016).
Artificial intelligence: a modern approach.
Pearson Education Limited.
Ward, M. O., Grinstein, G., and Keim, D. (2015).
Interactive data visualization: foundations, techniques, and applications.
CRC Press.