The Colour Illusions Reference Guide

Our own drawings of the dress idea, no-red strawberries, simultaneous contrast, a checker shadow with its proof, White’s illusion, Mach bands, assimilation, Munker, watercolour, neon, afterimages and Benham’s top, with every source compared and a glossary.

What’s inside:

- Colour illusions at a glance

- Blue and black, or white and gold?

- Strawberries with no red

- Chevreul’s tapestry mystery

- The checker shadow

- White’s illusion and Mach bands

- Assimilation and the Munker illusion

- Watercolour and neon

- Ghosts in your eyes

- Benham’s top

- Where good sources disagree

- Words you will meet

- Credits, licence and sources

Pages: 14 (A4) / 14 (US Letter). Formats: A4 (210 × 297 mm) and US Letter (8.5 × 11 in), both PDFs included in one zip.

Printing: Print at 100% / actual size on A4 or US Letter. Inside pages use white backgrounds; Benham’s top prints in black and white; the colour pages need a colour printer. The cover is dark, so print it in colour or skip it to save ink.

Every fact is written in our own words and checked against named sources from Michael Bach’s Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena, WIRED and Encyclopaedia Britannica (checked 13 Nov 2026); the sources are listed on the credits page. Where sources give different figures, each is shown with its source. Our own opinions are clearly labelled.

Every drawing is our own; famous illusions are redrawn in our own versions, not copied. There are no photos. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Michael Bach, WIRED, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Akiyoshi Kitaoka, Ted Adelson or any other person or organisation named here.

Licence: personal use. Print as many copies as you need for yourself and your household. Please don’t resell, re-upload or share it publicly. For club, school or commercial use, please email info@reallybyte.com.

Made by REALLYBYTE, the team behind colour.illusions.im. Questions: info@reallybyte.com

This is a digital download: no physical item will be shipped.