The effect of lightness, chroma, and hue on depth perception

Color coding of the graphical user interface (GUI) is effective in cognitive tasks, especially searching and identifying target stimuli from a crowded GUI. The perceived color depth on a flat GUI is a critical feature in mapping the stratification of information. In color science, the visual phenomena of advancing and receding colors provide the perceived depth needed for GUI design. The experiment used a series of color pairs as experimental samples to observe the phenomenon of depth perception caused by colors and obtain the judgment of the perception of color depth. This study developed a best-fit regression model to predict the perceived color depth. The study found that the higher the lightness, the higher the chroma, and the closer the hue is to 33° (reddish color), the colors tend to be the advancing colors; the lower the lightness, the lower the chroma, and the closer the hue is to 213° (blue-greenish color), the colors tend to be the receding colors.