Category 10
D3 Category10 (Tableau 10)
-
#1f77b4 -
#ff7f0e -
#2ca02c -
#d62728 -
#9467bd -
#8c564b -
#e377c2 -
#17becf
On a map
A synthetic demo grid, classed with equal intervals — the point is the palette against real basemap ink, not the data. Switch themes to see how much basemap the palette leaves room for.
Metadata
Provenance
These ten hues began as Tableau's default categorical sequence around 2007, hand-tuned by its designers to be distinguishable on screen without the eye-searing saturation of earlier defaults. Mike Bostock adopted the set into D3 as `schemeCategory10`, and from there it became the de facto look of a decade of web charts. This entry carries eight of the ten, dropping the lowest-contrast pair so every swatch stays separable at map scale.
When to use it
Category 10 is the familiar choice for nominal categories — land use classes, route names, operators, incident types — where the reader needs to tell groups apart rather than rank them. It is deliberately loud, so it wants a restrained basemap; on satellite imagery or a dark style the mid-tones start to blend. It is not colorblind-safe, since the green and red swatches collide under deuteranopia, so switch to okabe-ito or carto-safe when accessibility is a requirement.
License
ISC (d3-scale-chromatic; Tableau 10 heritage) · source
The color specification carries this license, which is separate from the MIT license on this site. See attribution.