Mical Arden

Colour & front-end editorial

Writes Upgrab's colour column — formats, contrast, gradients and palette systems, tested against the tools on this site.

25 articlesWriting since 2025

About this byline

Mical Arden is the pen name used by the editorial team behind Upgrab's colour writing. Articles are produced and reviewed by the same people who build and maintain the tools on this site.

What this column covers

  • Colour formats and conversion — HEX, RGB, HSL, HSV, CMYK, XYZ, LAB, LCH and OKLCH
  • Contrast and accessibility, including how WCAG ratios are calculated
  • CSS gradients, interpolation spaces and the artefacts that come with them
  • Building and maintaining interface colour palettes

How these articles are made

Everything is checked against the tools

Numbers quoted in an article — conversions, contrast ratios, tint and shade steps — are produced by the same code that powers the colour pages here. If an article says a colour scores 3.09:1 against white, that figure came from the contrast function on this site, not from memory.

Specifications over folklore

Colour writing on the web repeats a lot of received wisdom. Where a claim comes from a specification — the WCAG contrast formula, the sRGB transfer function, the CIE definitions of LAB and LCH — we work from the specification and say so.

Worked examples, not assertions

Where a calculation matters, the article shows the arithmetic so you can follow it or check it. Conversions are demonstrated step by step rather than asserted.

Corrections are made in place

When something is wrong we fix the article and update its modified date rather than quietly deleting it. If a correction changes the substance of a claim, it is noted in the article.

Editorial independence

  • No article on this site is sponsored, and nothing here is a paid placement or affiliate link.
  • Advertising, where enabled, is served by a third-party network and is not chosen by the editorial team. Ad revenue does not influence what gets written or which tools are recommended.
  • No vendor, browser maker or design-tool company has any input into this content.

Corrections, questions or a claim you think is wrong? contact@upgrab.online

Articles

Display P3 and wide gamut: when sRGB is not enoughRelative colour syntax in CSSTheming with CSS custom properties, without a build stepWhat colour actually communicates in an interfaceChoosing brand colours: constraints before tasteThe neutral ramp is 70% of your interfaceNaming colours so the names survive a redesignWorking out a contrast ratio by handMaking text readable over a photographContrast is not only about textBuilding a dark mode palette, not an inversionHow to build a colour palette for an interfaceSampling colour from an image, and the traps in itDesigning for colour blindness without designing in greyLAB, LCH and OKLCH: why perceptual colour spaces matterWhy gradients band, and four ways to fix itOpacity, alpha and transparent are not the sameCSS gradients: linear, radial and colour stopsEvery CSS colour function, and when to reach for itWCAG colour contrast, explained without the jargonHSL vs HSV: the difference, and which one you wantColour harmonies, and when each one actually worksRGB vs CMYK: why screen colour never prints exactlyHEX, RGB and HSL: which colour format to use and whenWhat is a hex colour code, and how do you read one?