Combat Metamerism

If you are in the process of choosing your corporate colours for a new business or just a new business image, you are probably already aware that the different papers, cards, finishes and varnishes you choose can make the same colour look very different. Therefore, your graphic designer or printer will be able to recommend the required colour differences to accommodate the different papers used, so that your corporate colours appear the same across all of your printed media.

However, you may not know about a colour phenomenon called metamerism which is the tendency of a colour to change depending on the type of light you are looking at it under. The differences in colours can be quite significant and two colours you are viewing under fluorescent light may appear to match but when you see them in natural light they are nothing alike.

When colours with different spectral power distributions appear to match, these colours are called metamers. The spectral power distribution relates to the proportion of total light emitted, transmitted or reflected by a colour sample at every visible wavelength and as such is precisely defines the light from any physical stimulus. 

However, the human eye only contains three colour receptors, which means that all colours we see are reduced to three sensory qualities called tristimulus values. Metamerism happens because each type of colour receptor in our eyes responds to the cumulative energy from a wide range of wavelengths, so that different combinations of light across all wavelengths can result in an equivalent receptor response to the same tristimulus values or colour sensations.

Therefore, make sure that not only are you viewing your proofs for your printing projects under as much natural light as possible, and trust the colour choices you make as the formulas to create each colour will tell you whether they truly match.

For more information about choosing colours which don’t clash but match, contact Print Compare now.