You meticulously picked #4A8BEE for your keyboard theme, but your spacebar looks like a completely different blue? Welcome to the optical illusion of keycap materials – where physics hijacks your color scheme.

Different plastics manipulate light like Vegas magicians:

• ABS Plastic: Smooth surface reflects light directly, making colors appear vibrant (think "Instagram filter blue").
• PBT Plastic: Textured finish scatters light, muting saturation ("washed-out vintage jeans effect").
• Resin Keycaps: Semi-translucent layers create depth, shifting hues based on backlighting ("chameleon syndrome").

Texture is the silent color thief:

• Glossy Coating: Acts like a mirror, amplifying nearby colors (your red mousepad may tint white keycaps pink).
• Matte Sandblasting: Adds "gray filter" effect – equivalent to dragging Photoshop opacity to 85%.
• Laser-Etched Patterns: Creates microscopic shadows that darken perceived color.

Your monitor lies to you:

• Backlight Bleed: Shining through translucent keycaps? Actual color = RGB value × plastic’s light diffusion coefficient.
• LED Temperature: Cool white vs warm white backlight alters color bias (up to 12% ΔE difference).

• Material Matchmaking: Use same plastic type across all keys (no mixing ABS/PBT).
• Compensation Trick: For PBT, increase saturation 15% in design files to counter dulling effect.