# How NOT to Lie with Visualization

Canonical URL: https://colorcurio.us/library/how-not-to-lie-with-visualization
Source type: Library entry
Resource URL: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4822401
Added: 2026-09-27

## Summary

The rainbow draws contours the data lacks; match the colormap to the task and the data’s spatial frequency.

Luminance for fine detail, saturation for broad regions — advice that still holds.

- Resource: [How NOT to Lie with Visualization](https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4822401)
- By: Bernice Rogowitz & Lloyd Treinish
- Published: 1996
- Kind: writing (article)
- Level: intermediate
- Tags: color-scales, perception, data-viz, scientist, research

## In collections

- [Foundational Reading](https://colorcurio.us/library/collections/foundational-reading)
- [Perceptual Colormaps](https://colorcurio.us/library/collections/perceptual-colormaps)

[Back to the library](https://colorcurio.us/library)