Select colors that make your pie chart clear, attractive, and accessible to all viewers including those with color vision deficiency.
Begin with a pre-built palette designed for data visualization, such as those from ColorBrewer or built into chart tools. These palettes are tested for distinguishability and visual harmony, saving you time and guesswork.
Place colors next to each other that are clearly different in hue, brightness, or both. Avoid placing two shades of blue side by side. If two slices are adjacent in the chart, their colors should be easy to tell apart.
Approximately 8% of men and 0.5% of women have some form of color vision deficiency. Avoid relying solely on red-green distinctions. Use a color blindness simulator to verify that all slices remain distinguishable.
If your data has natural color associations, use them — green for growth or profit, red for loss or decline, blue for water or technology. Meaningful colors help viewers interpret the chart faster.
Stick to a single palette across all charts in a report or presentation. Consistency builds familiarity and makes it easier for viewers to compare multiple charts. Limit yourself to 5 or 6 colors maximum.
Practice what you learned with our interactive pie chart editor below. The chart is pre-filled with sample data to get you started.