Working with colors
Colors can be used to add further information to a visualization. You can color items to, for example, draw attention to certain items, distinguish particular categories of data, present variation in values, or identify outliers.
On the Color by axis in the visualization, you select the column whose values you want to color the items by. The column you choose to color by can be any of the columns that are already selected on another axis in the visualization, or a totally different one. Depending on whether the selected column contains categorical values or numerical values, you have different coloring options.
Examples of how colors can add more information to visualizations are shown below. You find the details of the coloring in the legends.
Changing color of visualization items
Which color is assigned to a certain value can easily be changed. Simply click the colored circle in the legend, and pick another color in the palette that is shown.
The color palette is also available in the Color by section of the visualization properties panel, and some additional functionality is available in the Colors/Color section of the visualization properties dialog in the installed client/web client, respectively. In combination charts, the coloring is specified on the Series by axis.
If you want all the items in a visualization to have the same color, you should not select a column on the color by axis. You can specify the Color of all values, as well as the Color of empty values, on the Appearance tab of the visualization properties panel for most visualizations.
Coloring in tables, cross tables, and heat maps works in a slightly different way than other visualizations, and coloring in those visualizations can only be configured in the installed client.
Distinct colors and gradient coloring
Different coloring possibilities are provided depending on whether the selected column on the Color by axis contains categorical values or numerical values. Categorical values are values that can be divided into groups such as gender or country, and numerical values are quantitative data such as sales figures or distances. It is possible to change the axis settings for the color by axis from the visualization properties, if needed.
- When you use categorical
data on the color axis, all items within a category are given a common,
distinct color.
- When you use numerical
data on the color axis, a gradient color transition reflecting the varying
quantities can be applied to the items.
Color rules
It is possible to make deviations from the rest of the coloring. For example, you might want top value items to stand out using a certain color, or values with identical start characters, or you might want to color items in a certain interval differently. To do so, you can specify rules containing conditions for the coloring. Items that match your condition are colored according to your rule instead of following the rest of the coloring pattern. It is possible to add several color rules to a visualization.
Color schemes
You can color the visualization items using a predefined color scheme. Which predefined color schemes are available differs depending on type of data values in the column. Some of the color schemes have built-in color rules. You can use a predefined color scheme as it is, or use it as starting point for your adjustments. In the installed client, you can save a color scheme and reuse it in other visualizations. To learn more, see Color schemes.