Colour - Difficult to both choose and use in practice

Colour is a very important visual variable and is often used for the communication of information in maps, graphics and diagrams. In cartography, the use of colour, in both a traditional and an electronic medium, has been widely discussed. With the growing use of a range of computer software (cartographic, remote sensing, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and more recently the Internet or World Wide Web) as the main environment in which to design and create maps, and the availability of more sophisticated hardware, there is now an even greater opportunity and freedom of choice to make use of colour as a vital component in the communication of spatial information. The question is how to handle all these colours. This paper explores the importance of both the choice and use of colour in a paper and an electronic medium, and examines some of the ways in which more careful choice of colour can be encouraged in practice to ensure that the growing freedom of use considers the correct use of colour.