Daniel Smith Watercolors CIELCh Color Wheel

This chart converts the Daniel Smith CIELAB values into polar coordinates. The radial axis (distance from center) represents the chroma value, or "colorfulness"/saturation of the color. The angle axis represents the hue (e.g., red, blue).

This chart can help you understand why mixing some colors can result in something more vibrant (saturated) or more muddy (desaturated). Draw a line between two colors to see where they might end up on the chroma (saturation) scale.

Note that color spaces are imperfect representations of what we can see. This would be better, for example, using CIECAM like the artist's color wheel from Handprint. However, newer pigments aren't represented as well on that chart, and CIELAB values are more readily available.

Hover on a data point to see the color name and hue value. Click on that data point to toggle the data label visibility. If it's not working, try moving your mouse so that you're still on the data point but the tooltip is no longer showing, then click. You can also try using the zoom slider at the bottom to better target your colors. Best viewed on large screens.