Color is a general category of visual experience that includes the components of hue, brightness, and saturation. Color can be specifically defined as different wavelengths of light. Objects and the materials of which they are made reflect only part of the light spectrum and therefore appear as if they have a given color.

The eye interprets these wavelengths as a low level perception, shortly after brightness awareness. As such a low level awareness, color is a dominant component in creating figure/ground relationships.