Saturation

How pure a colour is, from grey to full intensity. Restraint here is taste; most work is louder than it needs to be.

Saturation is a colour's distance from grey: how much of the hue is actually present. Full saturation shouts, and two saturated colours side by side compete for the same nerve. Most colour that reads as expensive is far less saturated than memory insists.

Our surfaces run desaturated by default, inks and ivories, so the one nearly pure colour, the gold, keeps its authority. That is the practical rule: saturation is a budget. Spend it everywhere and nothing is vivid; hold it back and a single warm accent can carry a whole page.