I've run into this a few times before, but
this is one of the best examples I've seen. At left you see two YouTube icons in their natural, tiny state. If you look closely, you'll see subtle differences between the two – and you'll probably agree that the right-hand version looks better.
At right are the same two icons in a magnified view. The artist who created the right-hand icon used color to trick our eyes into perceiving crisper letters with better contrast – but without changing the color we perceive. To the best of my knowledge this process has never been automated (though intuitively it seems like it should be possible); it remains in the realm of art.
To me the process seems almost like magic. I wouldn't have the faintest idea what colors to try!
You know, it is the little things like this that are so fascinating. I think it was at least 15-20 years ago I remember there was some similar technique but using shades of gray to make fonts look correct. Don't think I ever saw using color to make it sharper though.
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