Considering best practices in color palettes for molecular visualizations

Abstract

Biomedical illustration and visualization techniques provide a window into complex molecular worlds that are difficult to capture through experimental means alone. Biomedical illustrators frequently employ color to help tell a molecular story, e.g., to identify key molecules in a signaling pathway. Currently, color use for molecules is largely arbitrary and often chosen based on the client, cultural factors, or personal taste. The study of molecular dynamics is relatively young, and some stakeholders argue that color use guidelines would throttle the growth of the field. Instead, content authors have ample creative freedom to choose an aesthetic that, e.g., supports the story they want to tell. However, such creative freedom comes at a price. The color design process is challenging, particularly for those without a background in color theory. The result is a semantically inconsistent color space that reduces the interpretability and effectiveness of molecular visualizations as a whole. Our contribution in this paper is threefold. We first discuss some of the factors that contribute to this array of color palettes. Second, we provide a brief sampling of color palettes used in both industry and research sectors. Lastly, we suggest considerations for developing best practices around color palettes applied to molecular visualization.

Seeing the unseen: Comparison study of representation approaches for biochemical processes in education

“…Details should be used to focus on the new information. We would also like to point to the comments that were left by non-experts and that some have enjoyed and some disliked the color palettes in the illustrations; we agree that certain rules about color palettes in professional molecular visualizations should be followed to achieve harmony [ 56 ]. This was also suggested in the focus group by an expert who remarked that even the colors shown in representations of processes are abstractions since we cannot see the proteins in real life.…”

A Concise Review of Biomolecule Visualization

“…Inconsistent semantic color spaces can reduce the overall interpretability and effectiveness of molecular visualization. Garrison et al [65] provide color palette samples for industrial and research sectors and propose considerations for developing best practices in color palettes.…”

Seeing Eye to Eye? Comparing Faculty and Student Perceptions of Biomolecular Visualization Assessments

“…Additionally, gender differences in spatial ability are commonly reported in STEM [15][16][17][18][19][20]. Finally, color blindness and other visual impairments can also influence the ability to decode information presented in a visualization [9,[21][22][23][24].…”