Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
The shades here are also the same in each of the three slides. All the columns pop out well on a white
background, but on darker backgrounds some shades do better than others.
The first slide here is not bad, but how could you improve the other two versions to make the type stand out
more?
Saturate the color
Saturation
(also called
chroma
) is the relative purity of the hue, or its relative brightness
or dullness. Saturation refers to the depth or intensity of the hue (color). Higher-saturated
hues have a richness about them and stand out well. A weaker version of a hue gets
closer to neutral gray. It's easiest to illustrate saturation by looking at examples from
photography.
The original image (far left) has a relatively high level of saturation. Moving toward the right, each image has
progressively less saturation than the original. (Image from
iStockphoto.com
.)
istockphoto.com
000000745511
In the following sample, I took the same slide with the blue background and reduced the
saturation, though the hue remains the same. Rather than becoming merely darker—as
it would if you added black—the color now approaches gray.
