MIXORA
Menu
Search MixoraArt of Color15 color toolsArt of Thought15 writing toolsConcepts

MIXORA CONCEPT

Chroma

The colorfulness of an area judged relative to a similarly illuminated white or gray reference.

colorStrong evidence
IN PLAIN LANGUAGE

Chroma is a useful way to discuss how far a color sits from neutral at a given lightness. It is related to, but not interchangeable with, saturation in every technical model.

What “Strong evidence” means

The core definition or effect is well established across authoritative standards, foundational research or a broad research literature. The label does not make every practical prediction certain.

Marker-board illustration created specifically to explain Chroma: The colorfulness of an area judged relative to a similarly illuminated white or gray reference.VISUAL EXPLANATION · MARKER BOARD
The colorfulness of an area judged relative to a similarly illuminated white or gray reference.
EXAMPLE

A brick red and neon red share a hue direction but differ strongly in chroma.

COMMON CONFUSION

Chroma, saturation and colorfulness are related technical attributes with different reference conditions.

ASK YOURSELF

Is the color too neutral, or is its value merely wrong?

RELATED CONCEPTS
color × bridgeSaturation

Colorfulness judged in proportion to the brightness of the color itself.

→color × bridgeLightness and value

How light or dark a surface color appears relative to white and black under comparable conditions.

→colorHue

The attribute by which a color is described as red, yellow, green, blue or an intermediate family.

→

SOURCES & TRUST

References

Last reviewed

  1. 01
    Colour Appearance Analysis

    CIE · 1993 · CIE Technical Collection 103-1993

    Distinguishes measured colorimetry from perceived attributes under specified viewing conditions.
    Reference source
What the source labels mean
Primary source
Original work, experiment, standard or historical text.
Academic source
Scholarly research or review published for an academic audience.
Reference source
An expert standard, encyclopedia or institutional explanation that summarizes a field.
General reference
A practical specialist resource useful for application, but not treated as decisive research by itself.