Colour Contrasts

Around us, we are encircled by many colours and various adjacent colours beneath these. Equivalent to our daily life, the maps we want to create in the majority of cases will contain more than one colour. A map rendered in colour with little contrast will look lifeless and generally does not demand for much attention. Just think about the difference between generation of a map for a hydrologic atlas for scientists and a map of Switzerland for Japanese tourists. You will probably choose different colour schemes for each and also different contrasts to adapt it most suitably to the users needs. Next to the contrast, we will point out as follows; you may also think about the expression of colours and their meaning to different cultures.

Explore the different boxes expressing various contrast possibilities:

With the understanding of the different contrasts, you are prepared for a self-assessment: