Color is one of the most fundamental, and sometimes most challenging, aspects of data visualization. Many times you may not know why a given color scheme looks bad (or good), but your eye can quickly pick it out. There are many schools of thought about color families, color meanings, complimentary colors, and which you should use in figures/plots. <…>
Below is a list of links/articles/references I’ve found useful when thinking about colors in visualization, with some rough organization. Favorites of mine in each section are in bold.
FULL ARTICLE: http://www.ifweassume.com/2012/12/colors-in-visualizations-rainbow-of.html
Drawing the Data 