DrawingDeskColour should reduce effort, not add a code
Colour can make a reviewed drawing readable at a glance. It can also turn the sheet into a confusing patchwork that only its creator understands. The difference lies in restraint. A good markup palette helps the eye sort information before the reader opens a comment; it does not ask everyone to memorise twelve shades and their exceptions. The system should work for the people who create comments, the people who answer them and the people who receive a flattened PDF days later. If it needs a long manual, it is probably too complicated.
Decide what colour represents
Choose one organising idea and stay with it. Colour might represent status—open, query and resolved—or it might represent discipline. Problems begin when red sometimes means architecture, sometimes urgent and sometimes rejected. Write the chosen meanings in a compact legend and include it with the review when recipients may not know the convention. For many teams, status is the most useful role because it shows what needs attention now. Discipline and ownership can still be stated in the comment text or recorded through the review process.
Design for real drawing backgrounds
A colour that looks clear on a white page may disappear over a dark hatch, aerial image or dense services plan. Test the palette on several representative sheets at normal working zoom. Check pins, clouds, arrows and text, not just a colour swatch. A light outline or contrasting fill can improve visibility without making the markup heavy. Remember that the purpose is to direct attention while leaving the underlying drawing legible. If the reviewer must cover a dimension to make a note visible, the visual treatment is working against the review.
Keep the palette deliberately small
Three or four colours are enough for most workflows. A compact palette is quicker to apply, easier to explain and more consistent across reviewers. Reserve the strongest colour for items that genuinely require action; if everything is urgent red, nothing feels urgent. Use the same shades throughout a package and avoid personal variations such as one reviewer using orange where another uses amber. Consistency builds recognition. After a few sheets, the reader should understand the visual rhythm without repeatedly returning to the legend.
Never make colour carry the message alone
Every markup still needs words or a distinct symbol. Some recipients will print the review in greyscale, view it on a poor display or have a colour-vision difference. “Open—coordination required” remains understandable in all of those situations; an unexplained red and green distinction may not. Test a sample page without colour and check whether its hierarchy survives. The best colour system is not the most beautiful palette. It is the one that quietly helps different people reach the same interpretation, even when the viewing conditions are less than ideal.
Introduce the convention with one real sample sheet and invite the people answering comments to test it. Their experience will reveal ambiguities faster than a theoretical standard. Once the palette works, document it briefly and resist casual additions. Familiarity is a major part of its value: the less effort readers spend interpreting colour, the more attention they can give to the drawing itself.