Qualpal
Generate maximally distinct, colorblind-friendly palettes for qualitative data, with control over hue, lightness, and chroma. For R, Python, C++, and the web.
Qualpal generates optimally distinct color palettes for qualitative data visualization. It uses color theory and perceptual models to create palettes where colors are maximally distinguishable to the human eye, while allowing precise control over hue, lightness, and chroma ranges.
The package is particularly useful when you need more than the 8-12 colors that standard palettes provide, or when you want to ensure colors work well for colorblind viewers. Try the web app for interactive palette exploration, or install the R package for programmatic use in your data visualization workflows.
Citation
@article{larsson2025,
author = {Larsson, Johan},
title = {Qualpal: Qualitative Color Palettes for Everyone},
journal = {Journal of Open Source Software},
volume = {10},
number = {114},
pages = {8936},
date = {2025-10-16},
url = {https://joss.theoj.org/papers/10.21105/joss.08936},
doi = {10.21105/joss.08936},
langid = {en}
}