Color Overlap & Wheel
See how three colors overlap: additive RGB on black (red + green + blue = white) and subtractive HSB on white, plus a 360° hue wheel to pick any color.
What is it
On a black screen, colored light adds up: red + green = yellow, green + blue = cyan, red + blue = magenta, and all three together = white. On white paper, inks subtract: overlapping filters darken toward black. The 360° wheel shows every hue around the circle.
Notes & fun facts
Additive color mixing was formalized by James Clerk Maxwell in 1861 with his three-color photograph. Subtractive mixing is how paint, ink and filters work. The hue wheel has been the standard way to visualize color order since Newton.
Origin & history
Newton's color circle (1666) was the first hue wheel. Maxwell's 1861 tartan ribbon demonstrated RGB additive mixing. Modern color wheels in design software (Photoshop, Figma) descend from these diagrams.
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