Optimising product colour

The final colour of a product on sale to the consumer is the end result of a complex interaction of knowledge, guesswork, practical constraint, and marketing skill [1]. Once the final colour is chosen, most of the problems associated with delivering the colour selected, under precise colour definition and control, at a reasonable cost, have been solved. Technical colour management is well served by accurate measurement and colour manipulation tools, and is founded on tried and tested science. By contrast, those managers whose responsibility it is to deliver successful colour selection, cannot appeal to much more than general principles, the dictates of fashion and intuition: they have very few tools and measurement techniques to assist them. Colour influences all aspects of our lives, from the clothes we wear and the food we eat to the environment in which we work [2]. The colour of an item of apparel worn by someone has an impact on how they are perceived by others and how they perceive themselves. This means that consumers are extremely sensitive to colour when choosing apparel goods. The rapid development of computers and information processing technology offers the prospect of bringing together hitherto fragmentary knowledge and precision colour technology in a concerted effort to improve the process of optimising product colour. The following sections represent an overview of the research effort in this field, highlighting advances in consumer research, colour definition and communication.