Color appearance phenomena

Bezold–Brücke shift

(Luminance on hue effect)

The appearance of a color's temperature or hue changes as the intensity of light changes.

Hues are relatively warmer for lighter values and coolor for darker values of an object of uniform color due to light intensity. Hues are relatively warmer for lighter values and coolor for darker values of an object of uniform color due to light intensity.

How it affects UI design

When creating a color scale, or making tints, cool colors should shift towards warmer hues as they get lighter if you want colors to emulate properties of the physical world.

Sources:

  1. Thomas Norton, David Corliss, James Bailey (2020). The Psychophysical Measurement of Visual Function. 1st edition. Butterworth-Heinemann. Pages 260-261, 283
  2. Mark D. Fairchild (2013). Color Appearance Models. 3rd edition. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Pages 120-123
  3. Bezold–Brücke shift. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezold%E2%80%93Br%C3%BCcke_shift