Color Assimilation
The opposite of contrast: witness how colors blend with neighboring patterns.
🧐 What do you see?▼
Look at the background gray color in the two halves of the image. The top half (behind the red stripes) likely looks warmer or pinkish. The bottom half (behind the blue stripes) likely looks cooler or bluish.
The background is actually the EXACT same shade of gray throughout.
🧠 Why this works▼
This is Color Assimilation (the Von Bezold spreading effect). While *contrast* makes objects look more different from their background, *assimilation* makes them look more similar.
This happens when the pattern (the stripes) is too thin for the visual system to clearly distinguish from the background. The brain "averages" or "mixes" the colors together, effectively painting the gray background with a hint of the stripe's color.
🧪 Try variations▼
- Adjust Intensity: This changes the frequency of the stripes. At high frequency (thin stripes), the colors bleed together more strongly. At low frequency (thick stripes), the illusion begins to break down.
- Distance: Moving further away from your screen usually makes the "color bleed" much more intense.
❓ FAQ▼
Is this how digital screens work?
Partially! Screens use tiny pixels of Red, Green, and Blue. Because they are so small, your brain "assimilates" them into a single color rather than seeing individual dots.