Colour Theory for People Who Should Know Better#

Week 5. You already know more than you use.

The constraints you cannot negotiate#

• contrast decides whether your theme is still readable by lunchtime
• a palette needs restraint more than range
• accessibility is a design discipline, not an afterthought

The convergence#

Almost every setup you admire is, underneath, Gruvbox or Catppuccin or a cousin. This is worth taking seriously rather than mocking.

Catppuccin Mocha

Gruvbox

Why they keep winning#

They solved the real problem, legibility across dozens of unrelated programs, better than the scheme you would invent in a weekend. The question is what it means that taste, given freedom, keeps arriving at the same six schemes.

Before next week#

Choose a palette and apply it to your terminal and one other program. Notice where the two disagree about what “background” means.