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When Colours Are Not What They Seem

Understand the tricks colours can play on you and what can be done to avoid pesky pairings in the home

Tess Dolan 27 October 2019

I'm a professional interior designer based in Melbourne. I love sharing styling tips with clients to make a house a home.

I'm a professional interior designer based in Melbourne. I love sharing styling tips... More

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Colour is a tricky thing. As a certain notorious dress on the internet has taught us, the phenomenon called colour metamerism can divide civilisation in a matter of hours, depending on how our eyes interpret lighting conditions and assign colours. For professionals and homeowners alike, sometimes a colour seems perfect in store, but can be the wrong match at home, or appear to work from one angle, but not another. Other times, a colour pairing will look wrong to you, but perfect to someone else.

If there’s anything we can learn from the trickery of colour matching, it’s that slipping from a perfect pairing to a total miss-match is as easy as the flick of a switch, the tilt of the head, or a debunk from a family member or friend. However, there are a few tricks you can whip out to help avoid the problems caused by metamerism when decorating at home.

Kristy Kropat Design GmbH

Meta-what?
Colour metamerism is a phenomenon that occurs when colours look the same under one condition, but appear completely different under another. Two colours may have totally different spectral compositions but can play tricks on us by generating exactly the same colour under certain conditions such as lighting, size, angle of viewing or the chromatic sensitivity of the observers. So what seems like the perfect colour match under one condition could potentially cause disappointment when you take it home.

Scott Weston Architecture Design PL

Problem: Colour … is in the eye of the beholder
Everyone in the world sees colour slightly differently. This is because the perception of colour depends on the spectral sensitivity of different types of cone cells in each person’s retina to different parts of the colour spectrum. As a result, colours are defined by the degree in which they stimulate these cells.

Observer metamerism occurs when two observers always have a different perception of colour due to the composition and distribution of the eyes’ cones.

Find an interior designer to help find the right colour palette for your home

Touch Interiors by Bronwyn Poole

Thinking back to our years in high school science, consider how light hits an object. The surface of the object absorbs some of the light and reflects the rest of it onto the human eye. In the case of, let’s say a ripe banana, the surface would absorb all the wavelengths except for those corresponding to yellow, and then reflect that colour onto the human eye. The human eye would then receive the reflected yellow light and send a message to the brain.

Colour, then, can be understood as a visual effect caused by the spectral composition of the light reflected by objects in the world.

MR.MITCHELL

Put simply, colours exist to us only when our eyes and mind work together to perceive them. This means that your friend’s idea of blue might be totally different to your understanding of it. Or, the reason that you can notice the difference between one blue and another, but your friend thinks they’re the same, is because you may be more sensitive to the wavelengths given off by both objects.

How many different hues of blue can you see in this beautiful interior by the wonderful Melbourne interior design firm MR. MITCHELL?

30E design + architecture

Solution: Don’t fight it
There’s not much that can be done when it comes to observer metamerism. If colour is in the eye of the beholder and no beholder is the same, then it only follows that there would be differences in what we see. Instead of having an argument, let this fascinating fact spark interesting conversation in your home. And don’t lose heart if a friend or partner disputes a match you think is perfect, because to you, it is!

Sweet William

Problem: Light
Although there is much more to it, colour metamerism is most commonly understood as a phenomenon that occurs when two colour samples appear to match under one light source, but do not match under a different light source – this is called sample metamerism.

This happens because the wavelength distribution of different types of light sources interacts differently with the spectral reflectance of each item.

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Dulux Paint

When it comes to home decorating, a good example of sample metamerism is when you bring home an item that looked perfect under the fluorescent lights of the department store, but wrong under the incandescent lights of your bedroom or in the natural light of your living room.

You might choose a red cushion to offset a red feature wall and while the colours may have seemed exactly the same in-store, they can be the wrong fit back home.

Darren Palmer Interiors

Solution: Know your source
Be mindful of the lighting you have in the room you are buying for versus the light in the store you are buying from. If you are buying an item in-store, but know that your room’s main source of light is natural daylight, ask if you can have a look at the item outside, or next to a window.

Research shows that metamerism is more likely to occur in more subdued colours such as taupe, mauve, tan, lilac, grey/blues and greys. If these are some of your favourite colours in the home, be extra careful when choosing a perfect match. If it proves to be too hard, consider using orange, yellow, pink, green, purple or bright blue instead.

Also, make sure that you always ask about a store’s return policy before you buy so that you know you can safely return the item if it doesn’t work in your space. You could also obtain a sample in store and bring it back to your home before making an investment, or take a sample with you on your search.

Smart Design Studio

Problem: Technology
Have you ever purchased something online, or from a picture in a printed catalogue, only to find it doesn’t match what you bought it to pair with when it finally arrives at your door? Even if you physically held the item to be matched up to the screen or catalogue to check, you may have been bitterly disappointed (and understandably confused) when it turned out to be wrong.

Mediterranean Living Room Mediterranean Living Room

In the printing and online industries, metamerism is a source of great frustration. When it comes to colours on the web, the problem can be explained by
colour profiles. Computer colour profiles specifically define how your computer sees colour. In spite of the fact that most web and graphic designers have colour management systems on their own computers, and graphic software like Photoshop can embed colour profiles in web graphics, the visitor’s profile (yours) remains unknown and thus the outcome is unpredictable.

The Home

It becomes quite complicated to then try and figure out what type of lighting the photographer and stylist used. For example, they may have gone with a strong flash to make the colours brighter. There are also shortcomings in the colour options available when printing as the majority of printers utilise cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks only.

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Rob Mills Architecture & Interiors

Solution: Check it twice
Firstly, be careful when buying online or from a printed catalogue and make sure you know if items can be exchanged or returned if they are not the right fit.

As for online purchases, there are websites that test your computer’s colour vision and allow you to update your computer so you receive the most accurate colour information on your at-home computer.

If you decide to shop with a photo of an item, make sure you remember the kind of light you took the photo, and take a moment to compare the photograph with the object before you leave the house.

Dulux Paint

Problem: Angle and distance
Have you ever spied a perfect find in the distance only to find out that it’s not quite right when you get closer? Has there ever been a time when a couch or a wall colour seemed darker from a certain angle?

Geometic metamerism occurs when identical colours appear different when viewed at different angles or distances. It has even been argued that the reason men and women can perceive colour differently is because the distance between a women’s eyes is, on average, slightly less than that of men’s.

rigby & mac

Solution: Get perspective
Don’t be afraid to walk around and view your potential purchase from a variety of angles and distances. Consider how it would usually be viewed and approached in the room you wish to put it in. If it only looks right from one angle, but not others, then keep on searching. Also pay attention to finishes when matching colours. Pearlescent finishes, in particular, can prove to be very tricky due to the way they interact with light.

Dulux Paint

Problem: Size
Have you ever found the perfect paint colour by looking at a swatch, only to have the colour then seem different when painted on your wall at home?

Field-size metameric failure occurs when a person thinks a colour works when it is viewed as a small fragment – take a paint swatch, for example – but appears different when used and viewed on a larger scale. This occurs as a result of human physiology by which the way we see the sample is effected by the colours that are reflected to the eye from the periphery. This means that the area around a sample can effect the way our eyes interpret its colour.

User

Solution: Test it
It’s important that you are aware of the tricks that size can play on colour matching. With metamerism, the only real way to find your perfect match is to try your paint sample where you intend to use it and then observe it in your home’s lighting conditions – it’s worth it to find the perfect match!

Atlantic Archives, Inc.

Or, go your own way
Although getting a perfect match can be a beautiful feature in the home, if you find that you have one item that you love but can’t pair, then don’t be afraid to forego matching and choose to offset your treasure with another colour instead. There are no set rules when it comes to decorating and, sometimes, a match that is deliberately different can enliven your home in a way that you might not have expected.

Read more:
Maison & Objet: Top 7 Colour Trends for 2019
9 Colours to Amp Up the Living Room

Tell us:
Has metamerism played tricks on your eyes? Tell us about your experiences in the Comments section.