🌈Colour Hue Test

About this tool

Four rows of 12 colour chips each cover a quarter of the colour wheel. The two end chips in each row are fixed, marked with dashed borders, and the ten in between are shuffled. Tap two chips in the same row to swap them, and keep going until each row changes smoothly from one end to the other. Press Check my order for your error score; 0 is perfect. Your best score is kept on this device.

How hue arrangement tests work

Hue arrangement tests measure how finely you can tell similar colours apart. The best-known is the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Test, developed in the 1940s, in which people arrange 85 caps of carefully calibrated colour in order around the colour wheel. It's used to screen people for colour-critical work such as design, printing, paint and textile matching and quality control, and to describe colour vision deficiencies. This shorter screen-based version uses 48 chips in four rows of equal hue steps. Your error score adds up how far each chip is from its correct position, so swapping two neighbours costs 2, and a perfect arrangement scores 0. Most people with typical colour vision make a few neighbour swaps; scores in single figures suggest very good hue discrimination. Concentrated errors in one part of the wheel can be a clue to a specific deficiency, which is why the result names the row where you struggled most. Work steadily and compare each chip with both neighbours rather than the ends. Honest limits: screens, brightness, blue-light filters and room lighting all affect colours, and this isn't calibrated like the clinical test, so treat it as a game-like check rather than a clinical assessment. The colour blindness test screens for common deficiencies and the monitor test helps check your display.

Frequently asked questions