A thread on understanding the importance of 'complementary colors' in science figures 🎨👇🏼
(tl;dr, it will enhance color harmony, make your data 'pop', highlight antagonistic reactions, and keep your images color-blind accessible)
Some of the top companies in the world make use of complementary colors to make their logos and branding 'pop'
(caution: I'd still avoid the red-green color combo to avoid colorblind accessibility issues!)
In other design industries, the use of complementary colors is subtle but extremely effective (especially when creating color balance and accent colors!)
A few examples of complementary colors (blue+orange) applied to effective science figures.
Notice how even the small PD1 and CD19 proteins 'pop' against the blue NK cell (the other proteins just sort of 'sink back' into the background)
Here's an example of how powerful harnessing complementary colors can be for a science figure! 📖
IMAGE A: The blue background makes the orange action potential the focal point
vs.
IMAGE B: The yellow back-drop really forces the purple post-synaptic receptors to really 'pop'
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