One store's year, drawn three ways. Each chart uses the kind of palette its data needs, and none relies on hue alone.
Categorical: things that are different
Four product lines. Distinct hues, plus a dash pattern, a marker shape and a name at the end of each line.
Units sold by season in 2025, in hundreds. Rain shells: solid line, circles. Sun hats: dashed, squares. Tents: dotted, triangles. Boots: dash-dot, diamonds.
Contrast with the page: measuring…
Sequential: more and less of one thing
Trail visitors per month, in five classes of one lightness ramp (viridis). Each cell prints its value.
Trail visitors per month in 2025, in thousands. Summer is busiest; the five classes run from dark purple (under 3) to yellow (9 and up).
Contrast with the page: measuring…
Diverging: above and below a middle
Change in sales from 2024, percent. Orange below zero, blue above, a neutral middle; the bars' direction carries the sign too.
Change in sales by month, 2025 against 2024, in percent. Spring and summer grew; late fall fell furthest.