Rainbow Colormaps Are Not All Bad

Ware, Colin; Stone, Maureen; Szafir, Danielle Albers

doi:10.1109/mcg.2023.3246111

i

Rainbow Colormaps Are Not All Bad

2023
By Ware, Colin ; Stone, Maureen ; Szafir, Danielle Albers

Details

Journal Title:

IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications
Personal Author:

Ware, Colin ; Stone, Maureen ; Szafir, Danielle Albers
NOAA Program & Office:

NOS (National Ocean Service)
Description:

Some 15 years ago, Visualization Viewpoints published an influential article titled Rainbow Color Map (Still) Considered Harmful (Borland and Taylor, 2007). The paper argued that the “rainbow colormap’s characteristics of confusing the viewer, obscuring the data and actively misleading interpretation make it a poor choice for visualization.” Subsequent articles often repeat and extend these arguments, so much so that avoiding rainbow colormaps, along with their derivatives, has become dogma in the visualization community. Despite this loud and persistent recommendation, scientists continue to use rainbow colormaps. Have we failed to communicate our message, or do rainbow colormaps offer advantages that have not been fully appreciated? We argue that rainbow colormaps have properties that are underappreciated by existing design conventions. We explore key critiques of the rainbow in the context of recent research to understand where and how rainbows might be misunderstood. Choosing a colormap is a complex task, and rainbow colormaps can be useful for selected applications.
Keywords:

Computer Graphics And Computer-Aided Design Software Computer Graphics And Computer-Aided Design Computer Graphics And Computer-Aided Design
Source:

IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 43(3), 88-93
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1109/mcg.2023.3246111
ISSN:

0272-1716 ; 1558-1756
Format:

PDF
Publisher:

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Document Type:

Journal Article
Funding:

Grant no. NA20NOS4000196
License:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Rights Information:

CC BY
Compliance:

Library
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha256:feeb5804512ef52effc64b08e926b6519fc84b20934774b5e2ce98813426d1db
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/58953/noaa_58953_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 552.41 KB ]

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