What exactly is colour metamerism?

How do we define metamerism in the colour industry?

Here is a comprehensive scientific definition of colour metamerism on Mal’s Colour Science site. In practice though, metamerism is often mistakenly used to explain colour difference or a lack of consistency in results when measuring colour.

It can be argued that there are different kinds of metamerism (as in the definition on Mal’s Colour Science). In many applications it may be more practical to refer to illuminant metamerism as the true definition, because the other kinds don’t have a commercial implication or because the full scientific definition is too complex to understand in a fast moving, diverse production environment. We can’t all be scientists!

The most important thing is to define what is meant by metamerism clearly (say within a supply chain) to avoid expensive misunderstanding.

And make sure you can measure it accurately…

To find out more about metamerism and how it affects colour measurement, get in touch with us at info@colourserve.co.uk or +44(0)1625 440665