AbstractCIE L*, a*, b* is a rectangular coordinate system used extensively for numerical color communication and quality assurance. Often the a*, b* coordinates are rotated to cylindrical polar coordinates of (radial distance) and hab (angle measured counterclockwise from the a* axis), reasonably relating to chroma and hue. When each coordinate is considered independently, it is observed that colors in our daily experiences do not change in a similar independent fashion. Changes in concentration for mixtures of colorants result in changes in both chroma and lightness. Directly illuminated three‐dimensional colored objects change in both chroma and lightness between direct illumination and either shadow or highlight. Two new coordinates are defined for CIELAB: vividness, , and depth, . Each represents a Euclidean distance from a color defined by L* and to of 0 and either L* = 0 for vividness or L* = 100 for depth. Image‐based visualizations were made to demonstrate how changes in these variables led to color changes more representative of our daily experiences. For cases where a color and background had the same lightness, it was observed that colors became less distinct with a reduction in chroma. A third dimension was defined, clarity, , a Euclidean distance from a color defined by L*, a*, and b* to its background color, similarly defined. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 39, 322–330, 2014