This question is not TeX specific. When creating scientific documents with graphs and figures, what colors are good to use such that they help the reader understand the figure but will also print well on a black and white printer? For example, I would assume that yellow is a poor choice since it is difficult to read on the screen and it prints very light on the page.
[Tex/LaTex] What colors are good to use for graphs and figures in scientific publications that print well in black and white
colorgraphics
Best Answer
In general using patterns is preferable than colour, especially for scientific papers. If you need to use colours though, I suggest you use a combination of high contrast colour values and limit them to two or three colours. For example in the figure below, I wanted to emphasize delayed activities for a Project. I used orange to highlight these values and shades of gray for the rest.
Shades of gray, come out well in print as well as photocopying. For screen viewing, black colours don't look attractive. If you expect people to view your paper on the screen (if for example you posting it on a web page) rather use colours and control the screen version via a boolean, but best option of course is to choose colors that look well both in print as well as on a screen.