Color me happy!

Choosing the right colors is one of the more subtle (as opposed to font sizes or plot type) yet important skills that sets apart the novices from the experienced data visualizers. Samantha Zhang wrote this great post for Graphiq that breaks down the choice of color palettes into a few simple principles. Her post is a quick read which will be well-worth your time.

Here's a quick summary of Samantha's rules: 

1. Choose a color palette with the maximum possible variation in color and hue
2. Follow natural color patterns
3. Use a gradient instead of a fixed selection of colors