Representing Color

It'd certainly be nice to have a color system that let us specify a color using its hue, saturation, and lightness. However, this isn't quite as simple as it seems for a couple important reasons.

The biggest reason is that saturation and lightness aren't really independent. White and black are desaturated by definition, and there's no such thing as a very dark neon green for example.

We have three different cone receptors in our eyes that perceive red, green, and blue. The green receptors correlate most with perceived lightness, so colors with green in them can only be highly saturated when light. Similarly, colors like red, blue, and purple are most saturated when dark: a light purple requires adding some green, which reduces saturation.

Representing Color

It'd certainly be nice to have a color system that let us specify a color using its hue, saturation, and lightness. However, this isn't quite as simple as it seems for a couple important reasons.

The biggest reason is that saturation and lightness aren't really independent. White and black are desaturated by definition, and there's no such thing as a very dark neon green for example.

We have three different cone receptors in our eyes that perceive red, green, and blue. The green receptors correlate most with perceived lightness, so colors with green in them can only be highly saturated when light. Similarly, colors like red, blue, and purple are most saturated when dark: a light purple requires adding some green, which reduces saturation.