{"id":2922872,"date":"2025-08-07T06:42:46","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T13:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=2922872"},"modified":"2025-08-07T07:17:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T14:17:38","slug":"the-dress-perceptual-madness-and-what-it-means-for-mappers","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-online\/mapping\/the-dress-perceptual-madness-and-what-it-means-for-mappers","title":{"rendered":"The Dress: perceptual madness and what it means for mappers"},"author":6971,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[22941],"tags":[26451,30791,780562,32661],"industry":[],"product":[36551],"class_list":["post-2922872","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mapping","tag-cartography","tag-color","tag-perception","tag-thematic-mapping","product-arcgis-online"],"acf":{"short_description":"The dress that launched a million incredulous arguments and laid bare our fragile perceptual reality. Plus a map.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"youtube","start_time":"0","end_time":"","youtube_video_url":"<iframe title=\"The  Dress: Perceptual Madness and What it Means for Mappers\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/M8QrkLGhKFA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<ul data-editing-info=\"{&quot;applyListStyleFromLevel&quot;:true}\">\n<li>\n<div role=\"presentation\">There is no one right way to make a map<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div role=\"presentation\">Consider environments in which your map is read<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div role=\"presentation\">Don&#8217;t just rely on color names when keying a map<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div role=\"presentation\">Get feedback on your maps<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div role=\"presentation\">Perceptually-linear gradients<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div role=\"presentation\">Use brightness for graduated color maps<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div role=\"presentation\">Simple basemaps for thematic visualizations<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n"}],"authors":[{"ID":6971,"user_firstname":"John","user_lastname":"Nelson","nickname":"John Nelson","user_nicename":"j_nelson","display_name":"John Nelson","user_email":"John_Nelson@esri.com","user_url":"http:\/\/www.adventuresinmapping.com","user_registered":"2018-03-02 00:19:05","user_description":"I have far too much fun looking for ways to understand and present data visually, hopefully driving product strategy and engaging users. 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Life is good.\r\nYou might also like these Styles for ArcGIS Pro: esriurl.com\/nelsonstyles","user_avatar":"<img data-del=\"avatar\" src='https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Profile.jpg' class='avatar pp-user-avatar avatar-96 photo ' height='96' width='96'\/>"}],"related_articles":"","show_article_image":false,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/08\/TheDress_Card.jpg","wide_image":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Dress: perceptual madness and what it means for mappers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-online\/mapping\/the-dress-perceptual-madness-and-what-it-means-for-mappers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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