"Color deceives continuously."
Josef Albers
Josef Albers
There are many factors associated with the way the human eye perceives color. Our perception of hues, values and chroma is strongly influenced by surrounding and adjacent hues, values and chroma. This is known as simultaneous contrast.
Simultaneous contrast will be the most intense when two colors are complementary. When a grayscale is placed next to a color it appears to have a slight tint of that color's complement. The human eye automatically searches for this. An example would be placing red next to a neutral gray, the gray will appear to be slightly green. Place the same gray next to green and it will appear slightly red.
Simultaneous contrast will be the most intense when two colors are complementary. When a grayscale is placed next to a color it appears to have a slight tint of that color's complement. The human eye automatically searches for this. An example would be placing red next to a neutral gray, the gray will appear to be slightly green. Place the same gray next to green and it will appear slightly red.
When certain colors are placed next to each other they can create an illusion of depth. High-value colors such as white, tend to advance, while low-value colors such a black, tend to recede. Low levels of value can create spatial depth. The example below illustrates this illusion. The white square on the black background appears to advance, while the black square on the white background appears to recede.
Perception of size is also something to consider when discussing simultaneous contrast. The size of an area of color appears to change depending on its value contrast with the background color. The dimensions will be the same however, the dark areas will appear smaller.
History:
The discovery that color is relative to the surrounding colors was discovered in the 19th century by Michel-Eugéne Chevreul, a french chemist and merchant who dyed fabric. Chevreul recognized that the dye remained consistent but the viewing conditions did not. The bolts of fabric appeared to be different depending on what fabric and samples surrounded them.
Josef Albers was a major contributor to the understanding of simultaneous contrast. Albers studied and experimented with color contrast intensively. Albers placed emphasis not only on seeing color, but feeling how the relationships between colors worked. He was able to make sense of the illusion of contrast by explaining it as factual and actual color. Factual is what the color appears to be in isolation and actual is how the color appears when in context.
The discovery that color is relative to the surrounding colors was discovered in the 19th century by Michel-Eugéne Chevreul, a french chemist and merchant who dyed fabric. Chevreul recognized that the dye remained consistent but the viewing conditions did not. The bolts of fabric appeared to be different depending on what fabric and samples surrounded them.
Josef Albers was a major contributor to the understanding of simultaneous contrast. Albers studied and experimented with color contrast intensively. Albers placed emphasis not only on seeing color, but feeling how the relationships between colors worked. He was able to make sense of the illusion of contrast by explaining it as factual and actual color. Factual is what the color appears to be in isolation and actual is how the color appears when in context.