Color In Context

How objects and colors appear is dependent on their context.

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Red appears more brilliant against a dark background and duller against the white background. In contrast with orange, the red appears lifeless and with a blue-green background, it exhibits brilliance.

Notice that the red square appears larger on black than on other background colors.

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The small purple rectangle on the left appears to have a red-purple tint
when compared to the small purple rectangle on the right.
They are both the same color.
This demonstrates how colors can be perceived with different background.

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The above demonstrates how we are fooled by our eyes.
Would you believe that the two circles in the centre of the left and right figures are identical?

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Background Check

Same colors can be perceived differently because of the background. This phenomenon is what you call the "contrast effect".

Generally, when a color is placed against a white background it appears subdued compared to the same color placed against a dark background. As such, when evaluating color make sure that the background that you have is the same or in other words make some "background check".