Visualization craft
Color rules that keep attribution dashboards calm
Rainbow legends promise clarity and deliver noise. When every channel owns a saturated hue, the eye treats the loudest color as the most important — a terrible proxy for contribution.
One accent for the decision
Reserve a single accent for the channel or path under discussion this week. Everything else stays in a narrow neutral range. Stakeholders should feel guided, not decorated.
Never encode model type with festive palettes
If you show two model views, differentiate with position, small multiples, or line weight — not a second rainbow. Color should not imply that one model is celebratory and the other is sad.
Test in grayscale before you ship
Print or screenshot in grayscale. If hierarchy collapses, fix spacing and type first. Color is a last mile, not a rescue plan for weak structure.
Signal Desk clinics spend an entire session on these rules using learners’ live packs. The homework is deliberately boring: remove three colors and add one caption.