Colour-vision deficiency friendly Periodic Table of Elements including atomic numbers, element symbols and names, atomic mass, electron configuration, time of discovery, and period and group. Created by Fabio Crameri and openly shared via s-ink.org

Colour-vision deficiency friendly Periodic Table of Elements including atomic numbers, element symbols and names, atomic mass, electron configuration, and period and group. Lanthanoids and Actinoids are shown. Coloured are the different element flavours or, alternatively, phases of individual elements at room temperature, element numbers, and year of discovery.

Data are based on the NIST Atomic Spectra Database and the Royal Society of Chemistry’s periodic table, which compile experimentally verified and theoretically predicted ground-state configurations.

The Scientific colour map batlow is used to represent individual groups of elements to all, including colour-blind, readers.

  • Alternative-content versions
  • Alternative-colouring versions
  • Alternative-font versions
  • Transparent-background versions
  • Vector-format versions
  • Light & dark background versions
  • Colour-vision deficiency friendly
  • Readable in black&white

Faulty or missing link? – Please report them via a reply below!

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This Post Has 16 Comments

  1. Jeewon Ryu

    thank you!

  2. Joey

    What font is this?

    1. Fabio Crameri

      Hi Joey, thanks for the interest! The typeface in the lead image is Museo Sans, but it is also provided using Helvetica.

  3. Chirag

    What is the font used here?

    1. Fabio Crameri

      Hi Chirac, thanks for the interest! The typeface in the lead image is Museo Sans, but it is also provided using Helvetica.

  4. Jayesh

    Why does it indicate that some elements are unknown?

    1. Fabio Crameri

      Thank you, Jayesh, for asking. All elements up to 118 are “known”, but their chemistry might still be mysterious: we still only have theoretical predictions of the chemical properties of heavy elements, such as Tennessine. Elements 119 and beyond are not yet discovered, but researchers are hunting for them.

      If you have suggestions for updates to the latest state of knowledge, please do not hesitate to let us know!

  5. Ray Chretien

    I know it is difficult to get colours that all colourblind people will see correctly as we are all different. Case in point, I see alkali, transition, alkaline earth metals and lanthanide the same colour. If I may make a suggestion, I see 2 solutions. First make the table partially interactive so when I change the colour of say 3 Li, all other of same colour will change to my choice and so on. The purpose of colour is to make the elements identifiable so if interactive is too complicated, then using blank or white background between categories would make it easier. eg: if 3 Li is dark blue with the whole column also dark blue, then 4 Beryllium and the column under it would be white and 21 Scandium with all its category members would be say lime and so on. Just a thought. Great work and if you decide to make a new table, can the electron configuration be added in small characters above the symbol.

    1. Fabio Crameri

      Thank you, Ray, for your feedback. Yes, darker colours tend to be harder to distinguish than lighter ones for us all. We appreciate your constructive suggestions:
      1) The interactive solution is ideal for purely digital use cases provided the necessary tools are available. However, our goal is to create a graphic suitable for both digital and print environments making this option unsuitable.
      2) If we understand correctly, you would mix up the existing colours to achieve more contrast between the ones next to each other. The problem we see with this suggestion is that it actually is easier to differentiate low-contrast colours when they are next to each other, rather than further away.
      We will look into an additional version with a dedicated categorical colour palette that will work better, and add it to the package.
      Overall, we hope s-ink helps with making figures more accessible for you too!

      1. Fabio Crameri

        Electron configurations have now been added. – Thank you.

  6. Quenie Gianne Pada

    Hi! May I kindly request a copy of the image above? I would like to have it printed in a larger size for use in my chemistry class. Thank you!

    1. Fabio Crameri

      Hi Quenie! Of course! Would one of the files included in the package provided for download (click the ‘Download’ button above) work for you? – Otherwise, please contact via email by clicking on the top right letter icon, and we will see what we can do for you.

      Thank you for your effort with teaching and using accessible science graphics! ✨

  7. School of Computing

    What was the main design goal behind this periodic table visualization—education, aesthetic presentation, or interactive exploration of element properties?

    1. Fabio Crameri

      Thanks for reaching out!

      Our main goal behind this and other graphic resources is education (both ways, learning and teaching) through both accessibility (free and easily downloadable graphics; visual inclusive design; etc.) and scientific accuracy (here presented, for example, are NIST-verified data: theoretically predicted configurations, and it is clarified). While important to us, and serving as a welcome draw, aesthetics is secondary to that.

      We would love to know if that comes through for you! Do you have suggestions for improvements on any of those aspects?