Field guide
Interpolating colour in OKLCH
RGB interpolation follows display channel values, not visual distance. OKLCH is useful because its lightness and chroma controls better match the way a transition is perceived.
01
Match endpoint lightness before chasing hue. A gradient with an unintended dark waist usually comes from unequal perceived lightness, even when the RGB values looked balanced.
02
Hue travels around a circle, so two endpoints have a short route and a long route. State which route the generator takes when crossing zero degrees.
03
Highly saturated OKLCH colours can fall outside sRGB. A renderer must map or clip them, and clipping can flatten several intended colours into the same display value.
04
Check the final gradient at its real size. Smooth mathematical interpolation can still band on an eight-bit display; a small controlled grain field often hides quantisation better than adding stops.