What is the Okabe-Ito color palette?

The Okabe-Ito palette is an 8-color scheme designed by Masataka Okabe and Kei Ito specifically for colorblind accessibility. The colors are: orange (#E69F00), sky blue (#56B4E9), bluish green (#009E73), yellow (#F0E442), blue (#0072B2), vermillion (#D55E00), reddish purple (#CC79A7), and black (#000000). It is now the recommended palette for many scientific journals.

What is the best color palette for heatmaps?

For heatmaps and continuous data, use perceptually uniform colormaps like Viridis, Plasma, Magma, or Cividis. These palettes have consistent brightness progression, making differences in data values equally visible throughout the range. Viridis (purple to yellow) is the most popular choice and is the default in many scientific plotting libraries.

How do I make my figures colorblind-friendly?

Use colorblind-safe palettes like Okabe-Ito for categorical data or Viridis for continuous data. Avoid red-green combinations. Add redundant cues like different line styles (solid, dashed, dotted) or point shapes in addition to colors. Test your figures with colorblind simulators like Color Oracle or Coblis.

What colors does Nature journal recommend?

Nature does not mandate specific colors but encourages colorblind-friendly schemes. Their figures often use sophisticated colors like deep blue (#1f77b4), coral red (#d62728), forest green (#2ca02c), and muted orange (#ff7f0e). The key is using colors with sufficient contrast that remain distinguishable when printed in grayscale.

Can I use these palettes in Excel and PowerPoint?

Yes! Copy the hex code (e.g., #E69F00) and in Excel or PowerPoint, go to Format > Fill > More Colors > Custom, then enter the hex code. You can also save custom themes with your preferred scientific color palette for reuse across all your presentations and spreadsheets.

What is the difference between sequential and categorical palettes?

Categorical (qualitative) palettes use distinct colors to differentiate groups that have no inherent order, like experimental conditions or species. Sequential palettes show a progression from low to high values using a gradient, ideal for heatmaps or concentration data. Diverging palettes show deviation from a central value in two directions.

For Researchers

Scientific Color Palette Generator

Generate colorblind-friendly color palettes for scientific figures and research visualizations. Get hex codes for Okabe-Ito, Viridis, and Nature journal recommended colors.

Colorblind-FriendlyCopy Hex CodesJournal ReadyFree to Use

Instant-use palettesCopyable hex codesBuilt for charts, heatmaps, and papers

Pick A Palette Family, Then Copy What You Need

This page now behaves like a real palette utility, not a generic image prompt box. Choose a family, inspect a figure preview, and copy ready-to-use hex, Python, R, or CSS snippets immediately.

Okabe-Ito

Widely recommended in academic publishing because every category stays distinct, even under common forms of color blindness.

Strong for categorical labels and color-vision safety

Figure Preview

Sanity-check whether this palette will survive your actual chart format before you copy it into code.

Okabe-ItoCategorical

Bar chartsMulti-line figuresGrouped comparisons

#E69F00, #56B4E9, #009E73, #F0E442, #0072B2, #D55E00, #CC79A7, #000000

Palette Selection Rules

Use these quick checks before dropping a palette into a paper, poster, or deck.

rule 1

You need distinct colors for separate groups or treatments.

rule 2

Your figure will be read on slides, in print, and by mixed audiences.

rule 3

You can pair color with direct labels or line styles for extra clarity.

Watch-out: Avoid categorical sets for heatmaps or gradients where numeric progression matters.

Need A Custom Palette Board?

Use the selected family as a starting point, then jump into the main app only when you actually need a bespoke visual.

This sends you into the main creation flow with a prefilled prompt based on Okabe-Ito.

Color Palette Examples

Browse scientific color palettes and chart examples with hex codes you can copy

View:

Okabe-Ito Categorical Palette

The gold standard colorblind-friendly palette for categorical data with 8 distinct colors.

okabe-itocolorblind-friendlycategorical

Viridis Sequential Palette

Perceptually uniform colormap ideal for sequential data and heatmaps.

viridissequentialheatmap

Nature Journal Style

Professional color scheme inspired by top scientific journals.

naturejournalpublication

Bar Chart Color Scheme

Example showing how to apply accessible colors to bar charts.

bar-chartexamplecategorical

Line Graph Colors

Time series visualization with accessible colors and line styles.

line-graphtime-seriesexample

Heatmap Color Scale

Heatmap example with perceptually uniform color scale and annotations.

heatmapviridiscorrelation

What is a Scientific Color Palette?

A scientific color palette is a carefully selected set of colors optimized for data visualization in research publications. Unlike decorative palettes, scientific palettes are designed for accessibility (colorblind-friendly), perceptual uniformity (equal visual weight), and reproducibility across different displays and print media. The most widely used palettes include Okabe-Ito for categorical data, Viridis for sequential data, and journal-specific schemes from Nature, Science, and Cell.

Why Use Colorblind-Friendly Palettes?

Approximately 8% of men and 0.5% of women have some form of color vision deficiency
Many journals now require or recommend accessible color schemes
Colorblind-friendly palettes look great for all readers, not just those with color vision issues
Using standard palettes like Okabe-Ito makes your work immediately recognizable as professional
Accessible figures get more citations because more people can understand them
Your figures will reproduce correctly in grayscale printing

Popular Scientific Color Palettes

Okabe-Ito: 8 colors optimized for all types of color blindness, ideal for bar charts and categorical data
Viridis: Perceptually uniform purple-to-yellow gradient for heatmaps and continuous data
Plasma: Similar to Viridis but with magenta-orange-yellow range
Cividis: Optimized specifically for deuteranomaly and protanomaly color blindness
ColorBrewer: Sets of palettes for qualitative, sequential, and diverging data
Nature/Science style: Sophisticated colors matching top journal aesthetics

How to Use These Hex Codes

Copy the hex codes directly from our palette examples and paste them into your preferred software. In Excel: Format > Shape Fill > More Colors > Custom > enter hex code. In PowerPoint: Format Shape > Fill > Color > More Colors > Custom. In R: use the hex code directly in ggplot2 with scale_color_manual(). In Python matplotlib: pass hex codes to the color parameter.

Frequently Asked Questions

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What is a Scientific Color Palette?

Why Use Colorblind-Friendly Palettes?

Approximately 8% of men and 0.5% of women have some form of color vision deficiency

Many journals now require or recommend accessible color schemes

Colorblind-friendly palettes look great for all readers, not just those with color vision issues

Using standard palettes like Okabe-Ito makes your work immediately recognizable as professional

Accessible figures get more citations because more people can understand them

Your figures will reproduce correctly in grayscale printing

Popular Scientific Color Palettes

Okabe-Ito: 8 colors optimized for all types of color blindness, ideal for bar charts and categorical data

Viridis: Perceptually uniform purple-to-yellow gradient for heatmaps and continuous data

Plasma: Similar to Viridis but with magenta-orange-yellow range

Cividis: Optimized specifically for deuteranomaly and protanomaly color blindness

ColorBrewer: Sets of palettes for qualitative, sequential, and diverging data

Nature/Science style: Sophisticated colors matching top journal aesthetics

How to Use These Hex Codes