Tools and resources
Made for this guide
- Colour picker: all brand and data colours, with sequential and diverging ramps at any number of steps. Click a swatch to copy its hex code, or export the whole palette as CSS variables. It includes other palettes too, and you can add your own as a single JSON file.
- Design system: the REN Data interface components, tokens and patterns, such as cards, filters, big numbers and type. Use it for the interface around visuals, such as a dashboard built as a web page. It takes its chart rules from this guide.
Checking colours
- Viz Palette: test a palette in real chart types, with colour-blindness simulation.
- Coblis: simulate colour blindness on any image, such as a finished chart.
- WebAIM contrast checker: check text and colour contrast.
- ColorBrewer: tested sequential and diverging schemes for maps.
Choosing and making charts
- Data Visualisation Catalogue: what each chart type is for.
- Datawrapper Academy: practical guides to chart types, colour and labelling.
- From Data to Viz: a chart chooser by data type, with the common mistakes for each.
- Dashboard Design Patterns: a catalogue of layout, interaction and KPI patterns from real dashboards, with design cards.