Match color saturation to the party's visual importance
For grouped election-result reporting, use color saturation and lightness on party encodings to improve readability and mitigate under- or over-emphasis of parties for readers scanning the overall result.
- purpose:refine
- basis:heuristic
- scope:grouped-result
- quality:readability
- lever:encoding
- polish:hierarchy
- aesthetic:color:use
- channel:color-saturation:use
advice
Saturation for emphasis
Use color saturation and darkness to match a party’s intended visual weight. For example, keep a minor party in a light desaturated hue when it is only a small entry, then move it to a darker more saturated version once it becomes a major focus in the result view.
reason
Why saturation changes emphasis
Color does not only identify parties; it also controls which party attracts attention first. Stronger saturation and darker color make a party feel more present in the overview.
Mechanism: Saturated and darker colors visually stick out, while lighter and more desaturated colors recede, so color strength can signal whether a party should read as marginal, equal, or especially prominent.
Evidence: The post explicitly notes that color is an excellent way to make elements stick out visually and shows one party moving from a light desaturated blue to a much darker and more saturated blue as its importance in election coverage increased, with other newsrooms likewise making it the most saturated party color in the palette (https://www.datawrapper.de/blog/partycolors">Muth, 2018).
context
When to tune saturation deliberately
- User Goal: Control which parties feel minor, equal, or prominent in an election overview.
- Task: Use color to set visual hierarchy within a multi-party result display.
- Data: Several parties share the view, but they do not all need the same visual weight.
- Chart Setting: An overview chart, map, or tracker where color is already assigned by party.
- Audience: Readers are scanning for the main political actors in the result.
- Success Criterion: Visual prominence matches the intended editorial weight of each party.
exceptions
When not to use saturation for hierarchy
Break it when: You want all shown parties to carry equal visual weight. Why: A more saturated or darker color makes one party stand out more than the others.
costs
Costs of using saturation for weight
Sacrifice: You give up perfectly equal emphasis across the palette. Risk: Blind use can amplify a party more than intended. Mitigation: Decide the intended visual hierarchy before adjusting saturation or darkness.
mistakes
Common failure with color emphasis
Mistake: Leaving a newly central party in the palest color or giving the strongest saturation to a party that should not dominate. Why it fails: The palette communicates the wrong hierarchy before readers process the numbers.
check
How to test visual weight
Failure Sign: The party that should matter most does not visually stand out, or a minor party is the strongest color in the view. Quick Check: Compare saturation and darkness across the party swatches and see whether the strongest color matches the intended focal party. Stronger Test: Step back to overview distance and check whether visual prominence matches the hierarchy you intended.
fix
How to fix mismatched emphasis
- Darken or saturate the party that should carry more visual weight.
- Lighten or desaturate parties that should recede.
- If equal emphasis is the goal, bring the saturation levels of the major parties closer together.