Visualization – Megaputer Intelligence https://www.megaputer.com Your Knowledge Partner Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:02:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.0.22 https://www.megaputer.com/wp-content/uploads/favicon.png Visualization – Megaputer Intelligence https://www.megaputer.com 32 32 Display your results more effectively: Tips from a UX Designer https://www.megaputer.com/effective-report-building-tips-ux/ Wed, 28 Apr 2021 20:00:57 +0000 https://www.megaputer.com/?p=31747 Helping data analysts create effective dashboards is a key task for User Experience designers. Even for experienced UX designers, a great amount of effort is spent on distilling large amounts of complex information into a simple, clear storytelling report to display to the client. As PolyAnalyst software UX designers, we work hard to incorporate web reporting features that help users create meaningful and interactive dashboards. Recently, we received some general requests from our users asking us for some tips on how to beautify their reports and make them more effective. So in response, we decided to share a few tips on creating better dashboards and web reports, including some of the DO’s and DON’Ts of dashboard design.

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Helping data analysts create effective dashboards is a key task for User Experience (UX) designers. Incorporating multiple components into a unified report involves more than just a general knowledge of the user interface (UI) and UX. Even for seasoned UX designers, a great amount of effort is spent on distilling large amounts of complex information into a simple, clear storytelling report. As PolyAnalyst™ software UX designers, we work hard to incorporate web reporting features that enable users to create meaningful and interactive dashboards.

Recently, we received feedback from our users asking us for some tips on how to beautify their reports and make them more effective. In response, we decided to share a few tips on creating better dashboards and web reports, including some of the DO’s and DON’Ts for building them.

From the world of journalism, popularly known as the Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF).

Tip 1: Start with a clear purpose & story

Think of the dashboard as a display to summarize key information for your audience. In a single glance, they can analyze trends and glean the types of insights that drive effective decision making. To achieve this goal, one should determine the most significant or high-level insights (blue: top segment) and display them more prominently in the dashboard.

Additionally, “Important Details” (brown: middle segment) and the “Background Info” (beige: bottom segment) are also important pieces of the story to include within the dashboard. These segments are easily ignored by data analysts; but, we would not recommend eliminating or reducing these segments. An incomplete story is an inaccurate one and may discredit the overall integrity of the final report.

 

Tip 2: Employ a clean layout

 

Information cannot be placed just anywhere on the dashboard, nor can sections of the display be sized simply to fit the available space. Items that relate to one another should usually be positioned close to one another. — Stephen Few, author of Information Dashboard Design

Dashboard content must be organized in a way that reflects the nature of the information being displayed. It not only needs to create efficiency for the audience, but it should also provide a manageable foundation for the report itself. Building modules is one method that can help you to create a basic structure and skeleton for your design, so that you can achieve an organized data display with effective alignment and consistency. We recommend keeping these DO’s and DON’Ts in mind when assessing your dashboard layout.

A. Plan ahead

DON'T

Don’t approach your dashboard design without a plan, or you might get a dashboard like this (above).

Before designing the report dashboard, preparation and planning for all the visual components will reduce time wasted on trial and error. That means one should decide on what information should take priority ahead of time. And even then, the flow could be compromised when trying to cram too much information into one dashboard.

DO

We recommend sketching a basic structure or “skeleton” for the design with some possible modules layouts, as seen here.

DO

Once the basic structure is determined, identify what kind of visual components to include in the dashboard. This process will help you judge how effectively the key information is displayed and test the drawn-out framework. When everything looks good on paper or in theory, now it’s time to evaluate effectiveness.

B. Pay attention to how your audience naturally reads information

When making decisions on what information should go where, DO consider the way users naturally read and interpret information. The key design principles for many modern UX designers were proposed in the 1900s, when the Gestalt School of Psychology began studying human perception through a series of experiments. Below is a summary of the “six principles” these studies uncovered.

https://hub.packtpub.com/dashboard-design-best-practices/

Using these concepts as a guide, one can create dashboards with better structure and layout. This will help highlight information so the audience can quickly discern the information. For example, make sure to position key information from left to right on the dashboard, which is how most users naturally read and comprehend information.

Once the first row has been established, move down to the next row. Dependencies between the components in different rows will add enrichment to the dashboard and also an element of continuity. In this example, it is important to use a clean structure and an organized layout that guides the audience through the dashboard intuitively. Adopting this type of continuous flow helps the audience recognize the relationship between different groups of information more easily.

Tip 3: Reduce visual complexity

 

The purpose of visualization is insight, not pictures. ― Ben Shneiderman

 

Try to reduce complexity by decreasing the number of components, appearance, colors, navigation, and the text length to simplify complex visuals on the dashboard.

A. Less is more

DON'T

Don’t overload your dashboard with too many components. It occupies a lot of visual space and ends up distracting your audiences from obtaining key information at a glance.

DO

Do choose your key components wisely. Try to use no more than 5-7 different data components to create a view.

B. Keep a clean appearance

DON'T

Don’t add too many irrelevant accessory elements to the dashboard. For example, data tables have lots of viewing options—like “Zebra” color (shown above), column header background color, aligners, and toolbars—but not all of these effects should be implemented in a single component.

DO

Remove formatting elements that add visual noise. If something feels unnecessary, it probably is and it’s not recommended to keep it in the display. Simplifying the visual aspect of the component makes it more powerful than an element that is over-embellished.

C. Use simple color

DON'T

Don’t use an over abundance of colors. Like graphical embellishments, color can detract from the overall look and confuse the audience.

DO

Do simplify the use of color. Fortifying a dashboard with a well-tested color scheme that contains fewer colors actually brings balance to the dashboard.

Tip 4: Utilize a clean typography

 

When typography is on point, words become images. —  Shawn Lukas

 

Typography is another visual factor that designers use to communicate meaning to the audience. Typography in the dashboard can make or break a design. While data analysts often spend most of their time on the data and insights behind the visualization, it’s also important to understand the overall impact of the components and what effect it will have on the audience. Below are a few basic typography concepts to consider when creating clean, effective dashboards.

A. Use easily read fonts for body text

DON'T

Don’t use expressive, flowery fonts or upper case for body text. These fonts can end up being distracting to the audience and decrease readability.

Do use a Serif or Sans Serif typeface. Some examples of Serif fonts include Times New Roman, Rockwell, Georgia, and Baskerville. Helvetica, Arial, Futura, and Franklin Gothic are some examples of Sans Serif fonts. Some designers utilize Sans Serif fonts for digital publications and Serif for print, but either option would give your dashboard a clean look that’s easy to read. Also, consider sentence case rather than upper case for the typography treatment. Using upper case or all caps is difficult to read and should only be used in special circumstances to refer to highlighted words or phrases of importance. Typography treatment is very similar to how one would type a business memo. All caps can denote anger or a lack of typing etiquette, and the same rule applies for dashboards and reporting.

DO

Example: Sans Serif font.

DO

Example: Serif font.

B. Be consistent with component headers

DON'T

Don’t use multiple font types in different component headers.

DO

Do use consistent fonts with the same size and the same type.

C. Make smart font pairings in your chart legends & labels

DON'T

Don’t use bulky font types in the legend that overwhelm the key information.

DO

Do use a consistent font type between the legend title and legend contents. Keep the font size and font type consistent across your label text.

DON'T

Don’t use inconsistent label styles between the y-axis and x-axis of your component.

DO

Do use a consistent font type, font size, and font color between the y-axis and x-axis.

D. Pay attention to text alignment

Text alignment plays a big role in readability, especially in data tables. Certain types of alignments are more effective for numbers while others are better for making comparisons between different rows.

DON'T

Don’t stagger the alignment of the header and content that appears in the same column.  Instead, do use left-justified headers for columns containing left-justified content, and vice versa. Right-aligned numeric columns are easier for users to compare numbers, whereas a left alignment is more natural for text columns. The new design concept for data tables in PolyAnalyst™ web reports allows users easy access to these text alignment features.

Conclusion

We hope these design tips are useful when creating your next dashboard or report. Before you start the design concept, remember to always clarify what type of data and how much information the audience needs or wants to see. And be sure to carefully consider which information is truly the “Most Newsworthy”, and which information is just “background information” that adds little value. Also, once the dashboard is created, be sure to go back and ask the following:

  • Is the dashboard organized with a prioritized layout?
  • Are the visualization components displaying the proper level of detail?
  • Is there anything I can do to reduce the size of components or rearrange them to add clarity?

Most importantly, when it comes to design, practice is key. The more dashboards you create with these tips in mind, the easier the next design project will become.

All of the examples featured here utilize PolyAnalyst’s web reporting tools. For more information on PolyAnalyst, or to share any suggestions or feedback with the Megaputer UX designers, please contact us.

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]]> New PolyAnalyst Color Moods https://www.megaputer.com/2019-new-color-moods/ Thu, 14 Feb 2019 19:12:45 +0000 https://www.megaputer.com/?p=32014 With the evolution of the PolyAnalyst™ web reporting software, new color palettes and features have recently been launched. Users will now have the option to globally change and share color palettes within a web report by using the auto-sync feature. Pre-packaged color palettes will also be available in the newest versions, enabling users to apply a color mood to their report. Additionally, if the user prefers to apply a corporate or custom color palette, this option will also be available.

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With the evolution of the PolyAnalyst™ web reporting software, new color palettes and exciting features have recently been launched. Users will now have the option to globally change and share color palettes within a web report by using the auto-sync feature. Pre-packaged color palettes will also be available in the newest versions, enabling users to apply a color mood to their report. Additionally, if the user prefers to apply a corporate or custom color palette, this option will also be available.

Why talk about color moods?

In the blog post “Using color to increase the visual effectiveness of reports,” we discussed how color affects the audience in a meaningful way. This was the impetus for establishing color moods in PolyAnalyst. As a modern approach to PolyAnalyst’s original color palette, “color moods” are the way we envisioned to help users spend more time worrying about the accuracy of the results and less about polishing reports so they are well received. The results don’t always speak for themselves to all audiences, so it’s important we make every effort to help important insights stand in the spotlight.

One way we worked to achieve this goal was by enabling users to easily apply global, specialized color palettes to the report’s visual components being published. Each color mood has a theme and has been repeatedly tested to ensure it offers an out-of-the-box, harmoniously-balanced color option while also effectively distinguishing numerous slices of data. This feature draws from color theories and color formulas, eliminating the struggle some users may have in choosing the right color and refining color balance. Unless the user has a corporate color palette, this is a way to achieve well-balanced visuals for reporting.

In addition to having access to the default palettes and 10 built-in color moods, PolyAnalyst users can choose to add additional colors to any of the palettes. And there is also still the option of creating your own custom color palettes for yourself or for others to use in their projects. These features are intended to increase flexibility and assist marketing for control on branding standards.

What is the inspiration behind each color mood?

The phrase “color mood” is the appropriate terminology for describing the color palette in the new PolyAnalyst interface because each collection was inspired by a feeling or connection to a specific place in time; therefore, we are invoking a mood with each color choice. When custom color moods are in development, a designer can choose to think about a location or a time where the colors added to the experience. And while the interpretation of color is subjective, the color moods are intended to elicit an emotion. Thus, in the final color collection, the colors were selected based on whether they reflected the physical landscape with objectivity while also creating a ‘feeling’ that’s picture perfect.

Each resulting color mood represents a generalized, overall expression that depicts the theme’s framework. For example, if your goal is to evoke a feeling of sincerity, then perhaps the Monday Blues color mood would be appropriate. If, however, you want to communicate energy and growth, then maybe the Rain Forest color mood would be a good choice.

Summary

In the end, color is meant to be fun, serious, inventive, revealing—basically, anything a person wants it to be. And we now offer a variety of color moods to reflect these individual preferences and needs. Providing a harmoniously-balanced color palette, with a universal option that can apply the palette over several projects, allows the user to focus more on the information and less on deciding which colors work well together. We also have the PA 20 – PRO and PA 30 – PRO default color palettes, which contain colors that were pulled from the individual color moods. These expanded palettes will accommodate larger result blocks in your pie charts and line graphs, eliminating color redundancy in a majority of the cases.

Check out the 10 new color moods below. Hopefully, you will discover the perfect color mood for your next PolyAnalyst™ project. Enjoy.

Monday Blues

Red Planet

Purple Haze

Falltastic

Desert Scape

Sea Port

Circus Lights

Floral Park

Beach Day

Rain Forest

Monday Blues

Combining blues and greys, this color mood aims to recreate how a person feels on Monday morning when they are not particularly happy that the weekend is over. It’s like singing the blues with dark skies overhead. While the feeling behind the palette has a little bit of despair, the blues in this color mood evoke general trustworthiness for solid business performance.

Click on the graphic to enlarge

Back to the Color Moods

Red Planet

This color mood is a homage to the planet Mars, and it will have anyone seeing lots of red. Usually red represents a stop color, but in this case, we are embracing red (as some organizations’ brands have) and offsetting the collection by including complementary colors like purple, orange, and gold. The warm tones may represent a report built on a hot summer day or complement a company’s red logo. And for the advanced color experts, a green logo would also be complemented by the multitude of red in this color mood.

Click on the graphic to enlarge

Back to the Color Moods

Purple Haze

Any Jimi Hendrix fans? What about Rick Springfield in the 1980s? Prince? Or maybe purple is just the best color on the planet? The royal color mood combines purples, pinks, and greys for a lusciously rich color collection. The inclusion of greys into this palette allows the brightness of the purples and pinks to shine brightly and provides a mid-tone for balance.

Click on the graphic to enlarge

Back to the Color Moods

Falltastic

Fall + Fantastic = a color palette that embraces the seasonal changing of the tree leaves in fall. This color mood is inspired by the most beloved Midwestern season for the colors, the smells, and warm sweaters. This color collection combines greens, browns, yellows, and a splash of red that will complement any brand that contains red or green colors.

Click on the graphic to enlarge

Back to the Color Moods

Desert Scape

Imagine a clear sky, sand, cacti, and red rock. Or a sunset at the Grand Canyon. This color mood creates a vivid depiction of what one would see gazing upon any US southwestern landscape. While most call it a dry heat, this color mood will heat up your web reporting with the contrasting colors of sand, sky blue, evergreen, and sunset red.

Click on the graphic to enlarge

Back to the Color Moods

Sea Port

The foundation of this color mood is inspired by a cool spring day in Seattle, Washington. It captures the essence of the greenery, water, boats, and breathtaking view of the Puget Sound from the famous Public Market. This color collection is a bit angsty in mood, with a splash of java, and it pulls together variations of greens and greys. It’s a very sleek color palette that provides high contrast, ranging from soft pastels to deep woodsy grey.

Click on the graphic to enlarge

Back to the Color Moods

Circus Lights

Cue the clown music! Bright lights, lots of colors, happy and vivacious — best describe this rainbow palette. This brightly focused color collection is intended to reflect cheerful and carefree times when a big yellow smiley face joins “flower power” and they all lived happily ever after. If your typical report insights or colors are bringing down the mood, maybe it’s time to try this unicorn palette. After all, neon is making a comeback within the fashion industry, so maybe your next report could be on the fashion best-dressed list!

Click on the graphic to enlarge

Back to the Color Moods

Floral Park

Picture a summertime picnic in the park, surrounded by sweet-smelling pastoral flowers. This color mood combines the softer side of those colors by incorporating delicate shades of pinks, purples, yellows, and greens. This is the perfect color choice for reports that need to ease into the results with a sense of calmness.

Click on the graphic to enlarge

Back to the Color Moods

Beach Day

Take lots of sand, warm sunshine, crashing waves, a striped beach chair, and a cold mimosa—we’ve just described the colors in this mood. The use of blues and oranges in this color palette complement each other and reflect a nautical theme. Creams and beige colors are also present to balance out the brighter colors.

beach_day_report

Click on the graphic to enlarge

Back to the Color Moods

Rain Forest

Picture a secluded island with thick vegetation. There’s a light mist, and the sun is peeking through the canopy. And as you’re exploring, a beautiful waterfall appears. Deep colors—rich with greens, blues, and a splash of golden yellow—create this mood. For strong reporting and those with adventurous souls, try this earthy and nature-driven color mood.

Click on the graphic to enlarge

Back to the Color Moods

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]]> Tips for creating better looking reports https://www.megaputer.com/tips-for-building-web-reports/ Fri, 12 Oct 2018 19:53:49 +0000 https://www.megaputer.com/?p=23066 Create better looking reports that accurately capture and convey your insight following these simple tips.

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]]> Creating reports with PolyAnalyst is a great way to illustrate the insight that you gained from analysis. However, creating a nice looking report can be challenging. For example, how do you decide which results to display at the top of your report? How will viewers of the report interact with it? We are happy to provide you some tips for building better looking reports.

Planning comes first. Your objective of creating a report is to encapsulate and demonstrate what you have learned. You need to focus on your audience and ensure your design facilitates your audience getting their questions answered.

Tip #1. Design the front page

There is no fixed way to build the first page. You design it based on how you would like to tell your story. It could be a title page with an image of the product from your data, an overview of the data, or a visualization of your most striking result. If you choose to create an overview page, we recommend that you include basic information on the key columns contributing to your main results. Engaging overview pages often use a combination of bar charts, pie charts, filters, link graphs, word clouds and drill-down tables to show demographic and summary information. An overview page serves to introduce the audience to the key features of the data and helps the audience better understand your results and insights that follow.

In the example below, we have the first page for a web report that analyzed customer opinions on a toothpaste. When clicking on a keyword in the word cloud, both the link analysis and survey data table get updated accordingly. Currently, the keyword “taste” is being selected, so all associated visualizations and data tables are updated automatically to results relevant to this keyword.

Tip #2. Use a variety of tools

To make the report more vivid and engaging, try including a variety of visualizations, keeping in mind the questions you intend to answer. Some of our favorite visualization nodes include: Bar Chart, Pie Chart, Graph node, Tag Cloud, Modify Columns (as drill-down tables), Dimension Matrix, Trend Graph, OLAP Table, Treemap, GIS Object, and Bubble Chart. Here is a screenshot demonstrating some of these visualizations:

Note that the overview page under tip #1 shows a word cloud using the Tag Cloud node, a link analysis using the Graph node, and a drill-down table of the survey data from a Modify Columns node.

In addition to the usual visualizations, you can generate interest with interactive tools such as a statistic widget or a variety of filters. In the screenshot “GIS: Derived Issues by Dealership” in the next section, the “Quantity of Claims by State” component is an example of a statistic widget.

Tip #3. Choose meaningful filters

Using meaningful filters is a powerful strategy for discovering business insights in the data. Interactive filters allow you to drill down to specific detailed segments of data, while weeding out records irrelevant to your specific business concern. In general, you may find location and date information to be helpful filters. Depending on your project, you may find other useful filters. For example, for the analysis of a dataset of car warranty claims meaningful filters include vehicle series, model, production year, and engine type.

Tip #4. Utilize customization options

Usually, we need to modify the default settings of some visualization charts to meet our needs. For example, depending on how much space you have for the chart, you may need to adjust the font size, remove the legend, or modify the component’s margins. You can explore the customization options in the header menu (including component properties, enhanced drill down, and so on) and the menu bar (including file, sheet, window and settings). Also, you can rename your page titles and charts to reflect the information or results that you want to show. Suitable titles greatly help the audience correctly understand your points. In sum, the ultimate goal of using customization options is to make it more convenient for the audience to quickly absorb the information and better understand your point of view.

Tip #5. Choose a thoughtful color palette

Coloring your charts is also an important part of a report. Be thoughtful and pick a color palette that is likely to catch your audience’s eye without distracting them from the analysis. A safe choice is a color palette that is consistent with the logo and website colors of your intended audience. For more information on how to color your web report, please read: Using color to increase the Visual Effectiveness of Reports.

Tip #6. Organize your pages

First, have a business story in mind. Then, according to the flow of your story, arrange the pages in your report to support that story. It can be difficult to follow pages that jump around different topics, so try to make your story smooth and compelling by putting related pages together.

For example, if you are working on a project that analyzes customer reviews, we typically begin with an overview of the data (e.g., demographic distribution, main topics, etc.). Then in subsequent pages we can show overall customer sentiment and drill down to more specific angles, such as negative sentiment in certain locations using the GIS map or overall growth in positive or negative sentiment of certain topics.

With these tips and tricks in mind, you can begin enhancing your web report to convey your business insights effectively. Have fun playing around with different visualization nodes, filters, customization options, and color palettes. We look forward to seeing your stunning web reports!

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]]> Using Color to Increase the Visual Effectiveness of Reports https://www.megaputer.com/report-colors-increase-visual-effectiveness/ Thu, 02 Aug 2018 17:00:13 +0000 https://www.megaputer.com/?p=22915 Learn how color used correctly promotes comprehension, but used incorrectly can detract from your report's overall message and cause discord.

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The importance of color in analytical reports can be determined by several factors. Many analysts believe that the final results/numbers will speak for themselves and overlook this vital step. Often, just knowing your audience (the person reviewing the report) can be insightful. The goal is to showcase the results in an organized, professional snapshot that encourages information absorption. Color can detract from the overall message and promote discord, so that the actual intention of the report will not be assimilated efficiently. If your goal is to distract the audience from your information, then read no further. However, if it is to understand how color can promote greater comprehension, then continue.

Easy color selection can start with knowing your corporate colors. Most modern companies have a marketing person or brand specialist that can help define the specific color palette. Otherwise, the colors for the report are decided by the analyst. The first steps in implementing and achieving color harmony in any report is to understand color theory and apply a simple color formula.

Color Theory

Learning about color theory began for most of us in elementary school art class. The theory examines how colors fall on a spectrum and relate to one another. Associating color with personal and professional awareness began with studying the existence of color and its perception of the visual world. Assigning importance to color depends on its fundamental relationship to human connectivity. Many of us have a favorite color. Memory colors exist and can promote a mood or feeling. The business world did not escape the subjectivity of color. In many ways, organizational colors have forged the framework to understanding the nature of color and how each relates to the next.

Simple Color Formulas

Most color formulas are based off the color wheel derived from color theory. Figure 1. Some of the formulas require practice to achieve, but simple formulas are easy to adopt. Following these color formulas can be the first step in bringing color harmony to business reports. When a document has color harmony, the information is quickly and easily discernible. It’s not rocket science or extreme mathematical equations; however, these color formulas are used to maximize visual effectiveness. Here is your color formula starter kit:

A picture of a color wheel
A picture of a color wheel
  • Complementary colors: This formula is about finding the opposite color. For instance, if the logo is in red, then using a green to offset the red will balance the overall report. Figure 2. Easy to remember: a complementary color formula, opposites attract; sounds like the perfect soulmate.
A picture of a color wheel
A representation of the color spectrum
  • Analogous colors: Used by many corporations, the analogous color formula uses three colors to create a mini-color palette. If the color is green, choose the color on each side of green to form the harmonious trifecta. Figure 3a. Expansion of this palette can be created by finding the colors on the spectrum between the three original colors. Figure 3b.
  • Triad colors: This is the more complex of the “simple” color formulas. Start by selecting the first color and then selecting two other colors from the color wheel to form a triangle. Figure 4. The color distance from each choice actually creates an eye-pleasing palette.
A picture of a color wheel

Color Palettes

The best resource when choosing colors for a visual presentation or report is an already-designed color palette. As mentioned above, try using a corporate color palette to add color. Figure 5. Typically, the selection of colors is used to accompany a logo or brand image. A color palette will consist of multiple color choices. The only caveat is which one to choose as the dominant color. For instance, if the primary color of the palette is red, the overall view of the report could result in an overzealous amount of red. Figure 6. Red can signify “danger” or “proceed with caution”. While red is a very popular corporate color, using it thoughtfully will provide brand positioning without overpowering or derailing the message. Color generates a mood and can influence the reaction to the report. Not only does choosing the right colors achieve balance—colors can convey a visual message triggered by a known contextual meaning.

Corporate color palette

Meaning of Color

If you Google “What does color mean in business”, approximately 146,000,000 options provide the answer and the similarity among them is high. Yes, color has meaning. Individuals have studied what colors mean professionally and why choosing one over the other is crucial for a business. This concept is relevant for reports, as bold colors can express a “pay attention to me” indicator. Using color to evoke an emotional response will spark greater interest than a report void of color. Figure 6. Try removing color from the report—is it asking for a response? Thoughtfully choosing a color, achieving color balance and knowing what that color means is a very powerful approach to reports. When a report disregards this concept, the result can reflect poorly on those presenting the numbers. Haphazard, disjointed color choices show a lack of concern for follow-through and can result in sending the wrong message, even if report contains favorable results.

Two charts side-by-side with different colors

Audience Variable

The audience, or the person receiving the report, can affect color decisions as well. Giving weight to the opinion of this group or person may determine the overall color scheme. If the client’s logo color is forest green, applying one of the previously mentioned color formulas to that green will be the easiest path. When using a client logo color, make sure the color is correct and recognizable as the brand. Choosing any green will not be effective. Personalizing the report to an individual preference could be considered a compliment by presenting a report in the person’s favorite color. The magic key to color is knowing the audience and catering to that preference. Truly, it is about thoughtful color selection.

Color Vision Deficient

Speaking of audience, about 4.5% of the world population is Color Vision Deficient (CVD), and color decisions could change if the client falls within this group. The largest segment of Color Vision Deficient individuals is affected by red and green colors. In the analytics field, red and green are typically used to discern sentiment or positive and negative attitude. While this group handles color on a daily basis, selecting color while building the report to include CVD individuals will only broaden the audience. To gain the most audience visual comprehension, sentiment can be visually represented by a golden yellow for positive and darker blue for negative, as an alternative. Figure 7.

A picture of a chart that is color vision deficient

Summary

Achieving color harmony in business reports provides a visual platform for presenting the information effectively. Using simple color formulas to structure the use of colors creates color harmony and increases comprehension. Comprehension significantly decreases when a report uses the wrong color or color combination, signaling the visual brain that something is out of place. Color is important; and ignoring this vital step while creating a report may distract the reader from the intent. By knowing the audience and having a basic knowledge of color formulas—generating a powerfully professional report is absolutely possible.

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