I've thought about this before, and concluded that the best analogy to draw would likely be that of sound pitch or timbre. When a sound is close to you, it see

I've thought about this before, and concluded that the best analogy to draw would likely be that of sound pitch or timbre. When a sound is close to you, it seems louder. When it's far away, it seems quieter. But sounds have other qualities which are perceived the same regardless of distance - pitch being the most recognizable. And a sound's pitch changes how you perceive it unconsciously - that is, there is a "qualia" to hearing a low sound vs. a high sound that cannot really be explained. Similarly, visible objects which are close appear larger and those far away appear smaller. But visible objects have other qualities which are perceived the same regardless of distance - namely color. And an object's color also has a certain "qualia" that unconsciously affects how you feel about it. This has the added advantage of making it easy to explain Doppler shift vs. redshift :)