kontrast

Kontrast, or contrast, is a perceptual and design principle describing the degree of difference between two or more elements. It helps distinguish objects, areas, or features and shapes how we perceive scenes, typography, images, and interfaces. The concept is used across art, photography, graphic design, and linguistics, reflecting differences in light, color, texture, or meaning.

In vision, contrast can be luminance contrast (brightness differences) or chromatic contrast (color differences). The human visual system detects these differences to identify edges, forms, and textures. Higher contrast generally increases visibility, while low contrast can convey softness or subtlety. In photography and film, contrast is controlled to set mood and emphasize subject relations.

In typography and graphical design, contrast is a design tool achieved through differences in value, hue, saturation, size, weight, or spacing. Strong contrast improves legibility and emphasis, while too much or poorly balanced contrast can feel harsh. Designers balance contrast with harmony to guide attention and maintain readability.

Contrast is frequently measured by contrast ratios, especially in accessibility contexts. Industry guidelines such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) recommend minimum ratios (for normal text, typically 4.5:1; large text, 3:1) to ensure readable content for users with visual impairments. Tools exist to compute these ratios on color pairs.

Beyond vision, contrast also appears in linguistics as a contrastive distinction: features that differentiate phonemes or morphemes. In languages, contrastive pairs (minimal pairs) illustrate how small changes alter meaning. The term is also used in cultural or editorial contexts to denote opposing or divergent elements.