ColorBrewer is an online tool that offers color schemes for thematic mapping. Colors are specified in RGB (red, green, and blue), CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black), and hexadecimal (for web color). In addition to ordered sets of colors (as they would appear in a map legend), each scheme is represented with small, mixed polygons to the right of the legends. These map-like strips assist you in evaluating whether colors in a scheme look different enough to be identified when they are small and positioned within a more complex background.
Mark Harrower designed the interface and programmed the initial Adobe Flash version of the website. Andrew Woodruff at Axis Maps programmed the 2014 version of the ColorBrewer website to deliver the color schemes. Thanks to Axis Maps for hosting ColorBrewer2.org. Cindy Brewer designed the schemes. ColorBrewer is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant numbers 9983451, 9983459, and 9983461, under the Digital Government program.
The diagrams in this appendix were first published in the following:
Brewer, Cynthia A., Geoffrey W. Hatchard, and Mark A. Harrower. 2003. “ColorBrewer in Print: A Catalog of Color Schemes for Maps.” Cartography and Geographic Information Science. 30 (1): 5–32.
The diagrams are reprinted with the permission of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping.
RGB and CMYK specifications for nine sequential schemes with hue transitions in ColorBrewer
RGB and CMYK specifications for additional sequential schemes in ColorBrewer (three with hue transitions and five single-hue schemes)
RGB and CMYK specifications for diverging schemes in ColorBrewer
RGB and CMYK specifications for qualitative schemes in ColorBrewer
RGB combinations for color in the color-blind confusion diagram. Use these numbers in ArcGIS for maps that will be viewed onscreen; colors entered as CMY will look peculiar onscreen in ArcGIS, though it prints them well.
Combinations of 0, 10, 30, 60, and 100 percent of cyan, magenta, and yellow inks. Use these colors to prepare print products.
To use either of these diagrams, choose colors that are two or more zones apart when they have similar lightness.
