Color Contrast

This grid represents gradations of hue and saturation from magenta to red to yellow. Think of it as representing a wedge from the color circle with the bottom and right edges as the perimeter of the color circle (going from M to R to Y), and decreasing saturation (going from the three corners toward white, the center of the circle.) Notice that, in the middle of the grid, the individual squares, although they are each a single shade, appear to be more pink at the top and more orange at the bottom. This is color contrast and you can think of it as a version of Mach Bands.

Updated July 8, 2000.