Abstract: A method of using colors to encode and decode graphic material such as writing or a photograph. Colored graphic material and a two colored pattern are superimposed. Colors mix subtractively to form a multicolored image. This image is photographed in terms of light and dark to form an encoded graphic. Because of the colors used in encoding, the encoded graphic is a mixture of positive and negative portions of the original material. Decoding is accomplished by superimposing another colored pattern, similar to the first pattern, and an appropriately colored form of encoded graphic. A subtractive color mixture of colors in the superimposed pattern and encoded graphic forms an image that to the eye is a reconstruction of the original graphic material.