Lack of the most vibrant colours

[erikjalevik]

I hope you don't mind me using this channel to ask a question, seeing as you seem to have spent a lot of time thinking about the topic of colour systems!

Both Open Color, and your extension, seem to lack the most vibrant and saturated versions of certain colours, like for example #ff0000. And even after reading through your excellent overview article, I wasn't able to find the answer as to why this is.

My guess is that including these would ruin the relative strength perception and balance across colours. Is that the case?

[fchristant]

hi Erik,

I'd say that the original Open Color, and by implication my extension, is optimized mostly for the use in user interfaces. I think maximally vibrant colors (which is typically a mid tone with full saturation) is of limited use within that context. Such colors are not necessarily easy to read.

That said, the last part of my article explains how to add new color swatches based on points you pick yourself, so hopefully that helps.

A simpler solution is that a small set of exceptional colors outside the palette.

[erikjalevik]

Hmm, interesting perspective, I never thought of it that way. In my mind, it seemed like it would be a desirable property of such a system to feature "the reddest red", "the greenest green" etc, somewhere in the range for each colour.

They wouldn't necessarily be used for text or entire backgrounds, but as accents, where bold colour might be called for.

Thanks for your input!