An algorithm for the selection of high-contrast color sets

Nominal color coding is the aesthetic and functional use of color to convey qualitative information in graphical environments. The specification of hi gh-contrast color sets is a fundamental step in this process. We formulate the color-coding problem here as a combinatorial optimization problem on gr aphs and present an algorithm that performs well and does not require that the function used to code the similarity between colors be a distance funct ion. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.