About OpticalIllusions.com

A home for original optical illusions and clear explanations of how they work.

OpticalIllusions.com started from a simple idea: the best way to understand how seeing works is to watch it go wrong. Every illusion on this site is original artwork, drawn from scratch with precise geometry so that the effect is as strong as possible and the measurements are exact. When we say two greys are identical, they are identical to the pixel; when we say lines are parallel, they are drawn parallel.

Who writes it

The site is written and edited by K.R. Explanations are researched against published vision-science papers, textbooks and the original descriptions by the people who discovered each effect. Where scientists still disagree about why an illusion works, we say so and describe the main explanations rather than picking one and pretending the question is closed.

What you will find

• 28 original illusions, each with a reveal or interactive element where it helps.
• Plain-English explanations of the science, the history and ways to test the effect yourself.
• A daily illusion and a quiz for when you want to play rather than read.
• Prints and merchandise of our favourite designs, printed to order.

Publisher

OpticalIllusions.com is published by The Wizard Of Sales, LLC, P.O. Box 8421, Phoenix, AZ 85001, United States. Questions, corrections and ideas for new illusions are welcome on our contact page.