In current colour research, the term ‘appearance’ refers to the perceived colour of an object or surface under different lighting conditions and in different environments. Appearance is about how colours are perceived visually by people and how they are influenced by the properties of light, surface texture and other environmental factors.
1. Colour perception under variable conditions
- Light source: The type of light source (e.g. daylight, light bulb, LED) strongly influences the perceived colour of an object. Different light sources have different spectral distributions, which can influence the colour rendering.
- Ambient conditions: The environment in which an object is located, such as the room background or neighbouring colours, can greatly change the appearance of the colour.
2. Metamerism
- Metamerism refers to the phenomenon where two objects can look the same under one light source but look different under another light source. This occurs when the spectral reflectance properties of the objects are similar but not identical.
3. Colour consistency
- Colour constancy describes the ability of the eye to perceive the colour of an object relatively consistently regardless of changes in lighting or the environment. This is an important mechanism that ensures that we can consistently identify objects under different lighting conditions.
4. Surface properties
- The nature of a surface, such as gloss, texture or translucency, also influences the appearance of the colour. Glossy surfaces can reflect light differently than matt surfaces, resulting in different visual impressions.
In colour research, ‘appearance’ therefore describes the complex interaction between light, surfaces and the visual system that determines the appearance of colours. It is a multidisciplinary field of research that includes both physical and psychological aspects of colour perception in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of the visual world.
And why does this field of research exist? A very classic example:
Customer question: Is the same colour on a proof different on a glossy, matt and satin glossy proof paper?
My answer:
Two answers:
1) No: For printing according to ISOCoatedV2, the specification states: ‘Glossy or matt coated image printing paper >80gr/sqm …’, so you can already see here that matt and glossy are synonymous. The geometry of colour measurement technology in the printing industry (45/0/2°) also eliminates any gloss effect in terms of measurement technology, so high-gloss and super matt are also identical in terms of measurement technology.
2) Yes: In terms of colour perception by the human eye, identical colours can certainly have different effects due to the different reflections of matt and glossy surfaces. And: If you take the gloss into account metrologically (for example with a ball-head measuring device (d8° instead of 45/0/2°), then the colour would of course be measured differently for matt and glossy. However, this is not how the printing industry currently measures colour.
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