COLOR THEORY
A WAVGEN Learning World
Section 02
Color Models Lab
Three Ways to Describe Color — RGB, HSL, and HSB are three windows into the same room.
RGB — Red · Green · Blue
#DC50B4
Additive model. Light-based. Screen, projectors, digital displays.
HSL — Hue · Saturation · Lightness
#DC50B4
Perceptual model. Maps directly to human intuition of color experience.
HSB/HSV — Hue · Saturation · Brightness
#DC50B4
Artist-friendly. Saturation = purity, Brightness = value (not luminance).
Section 03
Harmony Builder
The Grammar of Color Relationships — click the wheel to set a base hue, then explore harmony types.
Click wheel to set base hue
Derived Palette
Scene Preview
Section 04
Contrast & Accessibility
When Colors Collide — WCAG 2.1 contrast ratios and the science of legibility.
#ffffff
#080810
Sample Text — Aa Bb Cc
18.9:1
Foreground colors that pass WCAG AA on your background
Optical Illusions
Simultaneous contrast — the same gray square looks different on dark vs. light.
Bezold effect — a small color shifts the apparent color of the whole pattern.
Section 05
Color Psychology & Temperature
What Colors Feel — the emotional and perceptual dimensions of hue, warmth, and cultural context.
Warm–Cool Spectrum — drag to explore
Color Temperature: 5600K — Daylight
Emotional Associations — hover hue regions
Hover over the wheel to explore emotional associations of each hue.
Section 06
Perceptual Color Spaces
How Machines Learn to See Color — Lab, LCH, and perceptual uniformity vs. RGB gradients.
Interpolate two colors — compare RGB vs LAB vs LCH
Delta E — Perceptual Color Difference
—
Select two colors to compute ΔE
Color Gamuts — sRGB ⊂ Display-P3 ⊂ Visible
The visible gamut (outer) dwarfs what most monitors can show.
Section 07
Color in Practice
Applying Theory to Screens — brand analysis, data visualization palettes, dark mode, and the 60-30-10 rule.
Brand Color Analyzer
Data Visualization Palettes
Dark Mode Color Shifting
The 60–30–10 Rule
Section 08
Color Masters
Eight artists who changed how we see, use, and think about color.
Section 09
Glossary
22 essential terms in the language of color.