23. Report and Dashboard Design Principles
23.3 Colour
- Use a limited palette: one or two main colours plus neutral greys. Highlight only what needs attention.
- Keep meaning consistent: e.g. green = good, red = bad; the same category always gets the same colour on every page.
- Avoid rainbow colours for categories that have no special meaning.
- Use sequential palettes (light → dark) for low-to-high values and diverging palettes (red ← white → green) for values around a midpoint such as 0% growth.
- Ensure enough contrast between text and background.
Ravindra Bagale's Tip
Mitrano, khup students use a different colour for every bar and city, which makes the page noisy. Use one neutral colour and highlight only what matters (udaharan mhanje the city below target in red). Keep the same colour for the same thing (Blinkit, Amazon Now) on every page. Punha ekda karun bagha, mag pudhe jaa.