Color is important, that’s something everyone in the printing industry agrees on. But how good are we, as human beings, when dealing with color? In this article, I will discuss two studies. The first concluded that our color memory is biased, even when the reference color is still visible. And…
It has been an interesting week. Tuesday my newspaper had an article on the (in)famous Yves Klein Blue. But the printed color was purple… Later this week, I noticed some images with better conversions, but with others, it was the same issue again. When it comes to converting blue from…
At the end of the year, I receive lots of letters. From charities to be precise. And the one that stands out – from a color perspective – is the one from the Red Cross. Next to the envelope and letter, there is also a leaflet and a small agenda…
In case you wondered: I’m not the only one with a special interest for brand colors in real life. Recently I came across two research papers by Michael Abildgaard Pedersen from the Danish School of Media and Journalism, examining both brand colors / brand guides (300+ / 156) and print…
In my previous article, I discussed the tolerances that the tools used in print quality control have. At least: in theory. To check this in practice, I launched a survey: ‘Your color guide and You’. The goal was to get an idea of how people use color guides in daily…
Color is probably the main quality criterium when dealing with print. And lower deviations are better, leading to some people demanding, defending a delta E 2000 of 2 for brand colors. But this raises a few questions, among which what the reference is and how reliable that reference is. And…
Would you like to be part of an interesting, crowdsourced color research? Then I have a few questions for you. I would like to get a better understanding of the use of Pantone guides. With a dominant position, you can’t neglect these guides. But usage can differ: some only use…
The publication of the groundbreaking color study did generate some attention. Especially my plea for a more realistic, less fanatic approach to color tolerances in real life seemed provocative to some. I e.g. got a mail from somebody who is quite familiar with Milka, stating they would never tolerate a…
You can find them in attics and basements: unknown treasures. At the campus of the AP university college in Antwerp, there is such a treasure. A groundbreaking study on the perception of color deviations. The results are intriguing: almost 1 out of 3 professionals (and 1 out of 4 in…
Right after I had published the article about real-life factors influencing color appearance in packaging, I opened my mailbox and found another very nice example. This one with a number of factors influencing color appearance in marketing. It is so nice that I have to share it with you. CONTENTS:…
The previous article about color memory started some discussion on LinkedIn, with a number of people strongly defending very tight tolerances. Packages should always look exactly the same, also with reorders, with e-commerce in mind. Let’s put it to test and do a few real-life checks of the visual appearance…
A few months ago, I published an article about color memory, including a short test. The test was to check whether you could remember an iconic color, Coca-Cola red, correctly. Although the number of respondents is still limited, my statement seems to be confirmed: you can’t correctly remember an iconic…
At first sight, it might look off topic for a business-oriented blog: testing a sleep analysis and sleep improvement device. But consider this: one out of three or four has sleeping problems. Which results in fatigue, concentration problems, errors. And that’s bad for business. And that’s the reason why every…
With a color printer close to every desktop, the question arises: “Why should we spend all that money on preprinted letterheads if we can print the logo together with the rest of the letter?” Although this looks a valid proposition, not all logos are created equal and with some ‘unique’…
The launch of KODAKOne looks interesting: protecting the image rights for photographers makes sense in an era where photos are floating all over the place (i.e., the internet). And with buzzwords like blockchain and cryptocurrency, attention is guaranteed. But it also raises a number of questions. So let’s take a…