Colornotation

Colornotation is a system for encoding information through color-based notation, where colors are assigned to symbolic values, categories, or numerical ranges and used alongside conventional marks to carry meaning. The approach emphasizes rapid recognition and language-independent communication, leveraging human color perception to convey structured data or status information.

Implementation typically relies on a color key or palette that maps specific hues, saturations, or luminance levels to defined concepts. Colornotation can be applied to data visualizations, user interfaces, printed signage, educational materials, or musical or mathematical notation, often combining color with symbols, shapes, or text to reinforce interpretation.

Design considerations focus on readability and accessibility. Effective colornotation uses perceptually uniform palettes, considers color-blindness by providing non-color cues, and ensures sufficient contrast. It also addresses cultural associations with color and avoids overloading the reader with too many colors. Practical use favors clear documentation of the color-to-concept mappings and consistency across platforms and media.

Variants of colornotation include categorical colornotation, which assigns distinct colors to discrete classes; sequential colornotation, which uses a color gradient to represent order or magnitude; and diverging colornotation, which emphasizes deviations around a central value. The concept overlaps with color coding, iconography, and data-visualization best practices.

See also: color code, color naming, color theory, data visualization, iconography.