Hazard Areas
Hazard areas are thematic layers that should have color ramps that pertain to the type of risk involved. For example, a ramp for a fire hazard layer should have red/orange tones, and a ramp for a sea level rise layer should have blue tones.
Our existing layer styles should be used as a model for new hazard layers.
Examples
Fill:
FF7F0E
D33115
9F0500
Opacity: 60%
Combining hazard layers
When showing multiple hazard layers on the same map, be sure that the colors are clearly distinguishable from one another so the viewer is not confused about which layer they are looking at. Adding a legend for clarity is also a best practice.
Alternate ramp colors
Many hazard layers share thematic similarities — for example, Sea Level Rise Risk, Flood Risk, Storm Surge, and Liquefaction are all water-related hazards. Because default color ramps are thematically determined, when showing layers in conjunction with one another, it is sometimes necessary to deviate from default color ramps in order to provide visual distinction between different layers.
The simplest method to deviate from the default color theme is to shift one step in either direction on the color wheel. For example, if the default ramp is primarily blue, try an alternate color ramp that is green or purple. Below, we show alternate ramps for the Storm Surge layer.
Example: Category 5 Storm Surge
Fill:
F6FBEE
D5EDD0
ABDCB6
71C4BC
399CC0
0C6AA5
003973
Opacity: 80%
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