Gray Should Be Warm, Not Blue

A comparison of two color casts in the same gray-toned space. The left side shows gray with a blue cast: the walls appear cool under the lighting, the accompanying wood tones look greenish, and people's skin tones are grayish, making the overall impression like an unheated office. The right side shows gray with a hint of yellow and red: the same lightness of gray appears warm under the lighting, the warmth of the wood tones is brought out, skin tones are normal, and the overall impression is livable. The lightness, furniture, and lighting are identical in both, only the gray's color cast differs. This difference is almost imperceptible on a color swatch but becomes extremely significant once applied to a wall. Avoid: making the two similar, replacing color cast differences with lightness differences, changing the color temperature of the lighting to create a difference, adding other colors to interfere with the comparison.

Translated from Chinese by AI.

同一個灰調空間的兩種色偏對照。左側的灰帶藍:牆面在燈光下泛著冷調,搭配的木色顯得發綠,人的膚色偏灰,整體像沒有暖氣的辦公室。右側的灰帶一點黃與紅:同樣明度的灰在燈光下顯得溫潤,木色的暖被帶出來,膚色正常,整體是可以住的。兩者的明度、家具與照明完全相同,只有灰的色偏不同。這一點在色卡上看幾乎相同,上牆之後差別極大。避免:讓兩者相似、用明度差異取代色偏差異、改變照明的色溫來製造差別、加入其他顏色干擾比較。