534 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
534 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
---
|
||
theme: custom-theme
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
# Perception & Color
|
||
|
||
## CAPP 30239
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Today
|
||
|
||
- What matters most when creating a visualization?
|
||
- How does human **perception** factor into visualization design?
|
||
- Understanding **color**, and computational representations of it.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## What is the most important question when creating a visualization?
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## What is the most important question when creating a visualization?
|
||
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><s>Where will the data come from?</s>
|
||
<li><s>What type of chart do I use?</s></li>
|
||
<li>Who is the audience?</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Audience First
|
||
|
||
- Who are you presenting to?
|
||
- How familiar are they with the data?
|
||
- What is their numerical & visualization literacy?
|
||
- Via what medium will they receive the information?
|
||
- What are you trying to do? (Persuade, Inform, Inspire?)
|
||
|
||
*Only now can we start thinking about data and presentation.*
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Perception
|
||
|
||
- **Selective** - We can only pay attention to so much.
|
||
- **Patterns** - Our brains are pattern-matching machines, audience will benefit from intentional patterns & be distracted by unintentional ones.
|
||
- **Limited working memory** - We hold a very limited set of information in our minds at once.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## What do you see?
|
||
|
||
<div class="container">
|
||
<div class="col">
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
</div><div class="col">
|
||
|
||
```python
|
||
alt.Chart(random_df).mark_point().encode(
|
||
alt.X("a"),
|
||
alt.Y("c"),
|
||
alt.Color("b"),
|
||
alt.Size("c"),
|
||
alt.Shape("a:N"),
|
||
alt.Fill("b"),
|
||
alt.Opacity("b"),
|
||
)
|
||
```
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## What do you see?
|
||
|
||
<div class="container">
|
||
<div class="col">
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
```
|
||
alt.Chart(random_df).mark_line().encode(
|
||
x="a",
|
||
y="c",
|
||
)`
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Effectiveness Revisited
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
<div class="container">
|
||
|
||
<div class="col">
|
||
|
||
**Altair Channels**
|
||
|
||
- Position (`X, Y`)
|
||
- Angle (`Angle`)
|
||
- Area (`Radius`, `Size`)
|
||
- Hue, Saturation (`Color`)
|
||
- Texture (`Opacity`, `Fill`)
|
||
- Shape (mark type, `Shape`)
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
<div class="col">
|
||
|
||
**What about?**
|
||
- Length
|
||
- Slope
|
||
- Volume
|
||
- Density
|
||
- Connection
|
||
- Containment
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
**Derived Properties**
|
||
|
||
|
||
- Length/Area - size of bars (`X`, `Y`)
|
||
- Slope & Density - affected by scale
|
||
- Connection - ex. layering of lines w/ points
|
||
- Containment - achieved with layering
|
||
|
||
What about *volume*?
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Stevens' Power Law
|
||
|
||
Stevens (1975): Human response to sensory stimulus is characterized by a power law with different exponents with different stimuli.
|
||
|
||
perception = (magnitude of sensation)<sup>a</sup>
|
||
|
||
Smaller <sup>a</sup> exponent: harder to perceive changes.
|
||
|
||
Stevens measured values of a by exposing people to varied stimulus and asking them to compare magnitudes.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
|
||
<div class="container"><div class="col">
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
</div><div class="col">
|
||
|
||
|
||
| Continuum | Exponent |
|
||
|-|-|
|
||
| Color **Brightness**| 0.33-0.5 |
|
||
| Smell| 0.6 |
|
||
| Loudness | 0.67 |
|
||
| **Depth Perception** | 0.67 |
|
||
| Area | 0.7 |
|
||
| 2D Planar Position | 1.0 |
|
||
| Warmth | 1.3-1.6 |
|
||
| Color **Saturation** | 1.7 |
|
||
| Electric Shock | 3.5 |
|
||
|
||
</div></div>
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## 3D Graphs
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Instead of 3D Graphs
|
||
|
||
- Find other channels: hue & size are good candidates. (bubble chart)
|
||
- Or make multiple 2D graphs with XY/YZ/XZ pairs.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## What is Color?
|
||
|
||
Wavelengths of light are perceived as particular colors:
|
||
|
||
|
||
What's missing?
|
||
|
||
<!-- credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Linear_visible_spectrum.svg -->
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Color & the Eye
|
||
|
||
### Rods
|
||
|
||
- spread throughout retina
|
||
- more sensitive in low light conditions
|
||
- brightness ("lightness")
|
||
|
||
### Cones
|
||
|
||
- 3 types with peak sensitivity at different frequencies
|
||
- concentrated in center of eye
|
||
- less sensitive in low light conditions
|
||
- hue & saturation
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
<!-- source https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cone-fundamentals-with-srgb-spectrum.svg -->
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Spectrum vs. What We See
|
||
|
||
What we actually see is always a blend of multiple peaks.
|
||
|
||
This is impacted by ambient light conditions, as well as quirks of our visual processing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
In actuality, multiple combinations of light can give same color (**metamers**).
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Chromatic Adaptation
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Source: Andrew Steele <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-XYsDNh4-886rMNLnnwR_w>
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Color Naming
|
||
|
||
Color naming is highly subjective, and research has shown that the ability to name a color correlates highly with the ability to distinguish it.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Be particularly careful with blue/green boundaries, as there are significant cultural differences.
|
||
|
||
Source: https://blog.xkcd.com/2010/05/03/color-survey-results/
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Cultural Considerations
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
- American audiences associated <span color="red">red</span> & <span color="blue">blue</span> with political parties on any map in a political context.
|
||
- Also international meaning of <span color="red">red</span> & <span color="blue">blue</span> is flipped: red is left, blue is right.
|
||
- Most other colors have contradictory meanings depending on culture. For example, yellow might be chosen to denote success (parts of Africa) or be associated with death (Middle East).
|
||
|
||
<!--Source: https://www.color-meanings.com/color-symbolism-different-cultures/-->
|
||
|
||
<!-- image from wikipedia: UK House of Commons -->
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Color Vision Deficiency
|
||
|
||
More accurate name for what is commonly known as colorblindness.
|
||
|
||
- Red-Green CVD - most common
|
||
- four types: Dueteranomaly and Protanomaly (mild) to Protanopia and Dueteranopia (complete)
|
||
- Tritanomaly/Tritanopia: blue/green and yellow/red confusion.
|
||
- rarest, complete lack of color vision, usually corresponds to other vision issues as well
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Color on a Page
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Ink absorbs light, so we work with subtractive blending. Our base colors are cyan, magenta, and yellow. To save on ink costs, we throw in black/contrast as well.
|
||
|
||
We call this CMYK color.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Color on a Screen
|
||
|
||
Screens emit light, which means we use **additive blending** of red, green, and blue light. Every pixel of a screen can emit these three colors in different intensities.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Color Spaces
|
||
|
||
Ways of describing a color mathematically, usually have 3 components to match our perception of color:
|
||
|
||
- RGB (early photography)
|
||
- CIE XYZ (1931)
|
||
- HSB/HSV/HSL (1970s)
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
<!-- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rgb-compose-Alim_Khan.jpg -->
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
A common way to refer to colors is by their intensity in each of these three channels.
|
||
|
||
<span style="color: rgb(0% 100% 0%)">this is 0% red, 100% green, 0% blue intensity (#00ff00)</span>
|
||
<span style="color: rgb(20% 60% 20%)">this is 20% red, 60% green, 20% blue intensity: (#143c14)</span>
|
||
<span style="color: #ff00ff">this is 100% red, 0% green, 100% blue intensity: #ff00ff</span>
|
||
|
||
This is sometimes expressed in hexadecimal:
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
### RGB space as a cube
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
### RGB as pair plots
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Remember this trick for your own 3-dimensional data!
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
A slice through the middle of the cube gives colors of comparable brightness. (You may have seen such a triangle in color pickers.)
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## HSL
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
An alternative color space that's very useful for visualization is HSL color space.
|
||
|
||
Hue, Saturation, Lightness | <https://hslpicker.com/>
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Aside: What about "alpha"?
|
||
|
||
You will often see a fourth channel: RGB**A**, HSL**A**.
|
||
|
||
This is known as alpha transparency (translucency).
|
||
|
||
This has to do with how the program in question *blends* the colors. The final pixel values on the screen will still be converted to RGB components.
|
||
|
||
- Use sparingly.
|
||
- Variations are very subtle, and background dependent.
|
||
|
||
<!-- image source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/RGB_pixels.jpg -->
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## CIE (RGB / XYZ / CIELAB)
|
||
|
||
Based on human perception experiments where people would adjust dials to recreate colors out of red, green, and blue light.
|
||
|
||
First from 1920s, revised in 1970s.
|
||
|
||
*Commission internationale de l'éclairage* (Illumination)
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Screen Gamut
|
||
|
||
Screens can't show the entire range of visible colors accurately, they define a "gamut". Since ~1996 most devices aim at a standard gamut to ensure similar representations of color, but even high end devices are not perfectly aligned.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Projectors (like the one you're likely viewing this on) usually have skewed gamut.
|
||
|
||
Moral of the story: **Consider your medium!**
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## What does all this mean for visualization?
|
||
|
||
Color choices should be made with respect to:
|
||
|
||
- medium (screen vs. print, type of screen)
|
||
- audience (culture, vision differences, expectations)
|
||
- differentiability
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Role of Color
|
||
|
||
- **Identify** - Different color per category/actor.
|
||
- opt for distinct hues
|
||
- **Group** - Group like entities using same/like colors.
|
||
- often with similar hues
|
||
- **Layer** - Overlay different information while keeping contrast.
|
||
- saturation differences very important to not overwhelm eye
|
||
- **Highlight** - Call out important/relevant information.
|
||
- brightness and hue differences important
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Color Channels & Data Types
|
||
|
||
### Lightness is perceived as ordered
|
||
|
||
Good for **Ordinal** variables
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
**Quantitative** (Continuous) variables harder to discern
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
### Hue typically unordered
|
||
|
||
**Nominal** variables.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
### Types of Palettes
|
||
|
||
- Qualitative - Nominal data
|
||
- Sequential - Quantitative data
|
||
- Diverging - Data with a meaningful zero-point (increase/decrease, more/less)
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
<!-- source: Peter Aldhous, NICAR 2016 -->
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
### Hue Separation
|
||
|
||
Pick distinct hues for unrelated variables.
|
||
|
||
Grouped schemes can be used where there are relationships among the categories.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
<https://vega.github.io/vega/docs/schemes/>
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## "Get it right in black & white"
|
||
|
||
A common mantra among visual designers.
|
||
|
||
Ensure that your hues have different brightness levels.
|
||
|
||
Ensure that you aren't using hue alone for your image.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Text Legibility
|
||
|
||
An important issue when using colored text and/or backgrounds is **legibility**.
|
||
|
||
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines require a 4.5 color contrast (3:1 for large text).
|
||
|
||
Minimize *saturation* in backgrounds, pick a font color with opposing *lightness*.
|
||
|
||
<https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/>
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Tools
|
||
|
||
- Vega Schemes: https://vega.github.io/vega/docs/schemes/
|
||
- Contrast/theme exploration: https://schubert-da.github.io/dataviz-palette-tool/
|
||
- Theme exploration for cartography: <https://colorbrewer2.org/>
|
||
- Color-theory based theme creator: https://meodai.github.io/poline/
|
||
- Theme creator w/ theme sharing: https://coolors.co
|
||
- HSL/RGB picker: <https://hslpicker.com/>
|
||
- Contast checker: <https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/>
|
||
|
||
### Color-Blindness
|
||
|
||
- MacOS/iOS app: https://michelf.ca/projects/sim-daltonism/
|
||
- Browser extensions (search "colorblindness" in your browser of choice)
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
## Acknowledgements & References
|
||
|
||
Thanks to Alex Hale, Andrew McNutt, and Jessica Hullman for sharing their materials.
|
||
|
||
Color space images are from <https://jamie-wong.com/post/color/>, which is an incredible resource if you'd like to go deeper into both the biology and math of color.
|
||
|
||
- https://www.math.csi.cuny.edu/~mvj/GC-DataViz-S23/lectures/L6.html
|
||
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevens%27s_power_law
|
||
- https://colorusage.arc.nasa.gov
|
||
- https://vega.github.io/vega/docs/schemes/
|
||
|