Spectrum of Nations by Alexander Varlamov

The work is part of a triptych of visualizations studying the colors of national flags. Each color has a specific meaning, so the aim was to understand which colors appear on the flags of countries and why they are used.

On original national flags, it is difficult to calculate the percentage of each color due to complex patterns or coats of arms. To accurately collect the colors of each flag, a Python algorithm was developed that analyzes every pixel of the PNG images of all national flags and creates a dataset with the percentage of each color and its hex code. Color shades are mapped to basic categories (e.g., green, blue, etc.) using AI.

The project "Spectrum of Nations" features treemap diagrams of national flags, where the proportion of each color on a flag can be seen. The visualization is interactive: users can filter the diagrams by the main flag colors, regions, and countries. Diagrams can be sorted by various parameters, and countries can be selected based on population and area.

The visualization can answer questions such as:

1. Which African flag contains the most green color?
2. What colors appear on the flag of Colombia and what are their percentages?

On one hand, it is an interactive visualization where one can discover various interesting insights. On the other hand, it is a data art piece, particularly intriguing when printed, where you can see the colors of all national flags on one page.

Part 2 of tryptich:
Global Flags. A colorful World
https://public.tableau.com/views/GlobalFlagsaColorfulWorld/Donuts?:origin=viz_share_link&:showVizHome=no

Part 3 of tryptich:
Global Flag Colors
https://public.tableau.com/views/GlobalFlagColors/TreemapsGlobalFlags?:origin=viz_share_link&:showVizHome=no