How to use color palettes in Datylon chart maker

Introduction to color palettes in Datylon

Color palettes can both be used for direct coloring as data driven coloring but are for those purposes found under different menu's in the Datylon color panel. Direct coloring palettes can be found in the Library tab of the color panel, while the palettes for data driven coloring are opened by clicking the Palette icon on the top bar of the color panel. 

Palette types

Categorical

• The colors in categorical palettes are without any specific order nor numerical meaning. The palettes contain a more subjective set of colors. They are made out of balanced colors, usually not too colorful, which can easily be distinguished also by people with impaired vision. Some are D3 palettes and the Datylon ones are inspired by Belgian painters and comics artists.
• Categorical equal weight: The colors differ mainly in hue, with little to no contrast. More suited for area elements and backgrounds. Note the total number of colors in the palette should be set to the number of series the palette applies to, to obtain a balanced result.

Sequential

• Palettes with a single-hue or multi-hue scale usually used for numerical coloring in for instance Heatmaps or any other type of scale chart.
• The palettes can be built up out of discrete steps, or a continuous gradient. Ideally, to create the best contrast, the total number of colors in the palette should be set to the number of series the palette applies to.

Diverging

• Only useful in case there is a meaningful mid-point in the data e.g. for diverging bar charts and stacked area charts.
• The palettes can be built up out of discrete steps, or a continuous gradient. Ideally, to create the best contrast, the total number of colors in the palette should be set to the number of series the palette applies to.

Illustrator palettes

• These palettes are copied from the Illustrator swatches panel. An Illustrator color group forms one palette in the Datylon color panel. A custom palette needs to be created in Illustrator first before you can use it in the Datylon color panel. Only the solid color swatches including global colors and spot colors (CMYK mode only) are supported. So Illustrator registration color, gradients, patterns and spot colors in RGB mode are not supported.
  
  

• In CMYK color mode, the categorical, sequential and diverging palettes are not yet supported.
• You can find a guide on how to use and create swatches in Adobe Illustrator in this article.

Palette options

 A Datylon data driven color palette has 3 different options: Opacity, Range and Reversed.

Opacity

• Opacity applies to the whole palette and can be set by means of a slider or numerically with a value between 0 (transparent) and 1 (opaque).  

Range

• The range property allows you to position the palette colors across your data marks.

  

Reversed

• When a palette is bound to a chart, the colors from the palette are assigned starting from left to right to the data marks or series. The order can be reversed by ticking the Reverse option.
• If there are more data marks or series to color than there are swatches in the palette, the sequence starts all over from the left.