Other Colour Contrasts
colour shading, dimensions assumption
example 1a
drag the two grey squares around into the center of any colour fields and compare their brightness, grey shade and size
example 2
compare the exactly same face against different background colours / patterns (of course, you would hardly ever use such terrible patterns as backgrounds for faces! it's just ot show the influences)
example 3
compare the same (zoomed) letter - look at the letters' edges. do the letters look to be flat and same coloured throughout the shape?
effect
when you move the grey squares into coloured fields and compare the greys you can notice (more or less) that depending on the background colour
- they seem to get brighter or darker
- getting a kind of colour opposite to the background colour
- have a sharper or smoother edge
- become a bit bigger or smaller in size
- seem to be more in front or in the back
the same happens with the face, the face on the grey looks more narrow than that on red, the face on yellowish more pale than that on red, some look more dirty or distant while others come clear to front
not only colours, also patterns influence the appearance of other shapes and colours
and with letters it's both colour and shape that influences appearance and such the readability of text on the whole
explanation
all colours influence eachother - which means biologically / neuronally
a) because the eyes' little retina rods and cones get tired when they get the same stimulus over a period of time
b) because the brain wants to see a rule for easy energy-saving calculation of a scene
so the neighbouring retina cones ‘try’ to get activated for the same colour, but as it isn't there only produce the missing complementary colour which then shades the actual colour
- e.g. you've got a grey square on yellow, so the grey will get a slight shade of blue
advice
as you now had enough examples to proof that it's not the single colour influencing it's appearance but the whole surrounding as well, you will hopefully make many examples and comparision studies when you next time choose colours, sizes, shades, light conditions
there are even more things influencing like distance to the eye, speed and angle of looking at/seeing sth, phyiscal state of the viewer, phyiscal state of the colour and texture, shapes, spacial dimensions, phychological state of the viewer (when he is at a funeral he'll see the colour black for mournouring, when he is a designer's office, he might see it as sophisticated :-)
and you can reach some effects and appearance / ambience with only the careful chosen colours, you don't need pictures or objects to create a high-tech atmosphere, you don't need 3D Buttons or Shadows to create dimensions ...
SOON
SOON