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"Ensuring Accurate Color Measurement of Hydrochromic Textiles with Spectrophotometers"

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"The Importance of Color Consistency in the Food Industry"

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"Building Material Industry Color Standards"

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"Food Industry Color Standards"

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"The Importance of Color Consistency in the Cereal Industry"

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"The Importance of Color Consistency in the Building Materials Industry"

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"Why Color Control Is Important for Building Materials"

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Ensuring Accurate Color Measurement of Hydrochromic Textiles with Spectrophotometers

Posted on Nov 28, 2023 by HunterLab

Moisture can change the color of fabrics in deliberate, overt ways or create subtle color shifts nearly imperceptible to the human eye. Image Source: Pexels user snapwiresnaps.tumblr.com

The Unseen Emporium in London, England is more of a laboratory than a design house. Through a daring and innovative combination of fashion, chemistry, and digital technologies, the three masterminds behind the label work to produce dynamic clothing, accessories, and lifestyle goods that respond to their environments based on specific stimulants.1 Among their most eye-catching creations are extravagantly tailored leather jackets that change color as the humidity in the room fluctuates, the moisture level creating vivid chromatic shifts. The phenomenon of hydrochromism—color change in response to water—has heretofore primarily been intentionally implemented in the textile industry as a novelty in the form of color-changing umbrellas and swimwear. The Unseen Emporium, however, is bringing it to a new level of artistry.

But hydrochromic textiles are not a recent invention. Although deliberately moisture-sensitive dyes with dramatic color changes may be in their infancy, some level of hydrochromism is inherent to most textiles already in use today, often to the consternation of textile manufacturers.

Dark cotton fabrics will display a greater degree of color change in the presence of moisture. Image Source: Pexels user snapwiresnaps.tumblr.com

Posted in Color In Textiles

The Importance of Color Consistency in the Food Industry

Posted on Nov 28, 2023 by HunterLab

Color is one of the most critical elements of products in the food industry. Besides giving consumers an immediate perception of taste and flavor, color can reveal a product's quality and freshness and whether it has a potential defect. Measuring color consistency through each processing stage helps food companies ensure their products stay fresh when they hit the grocery store shelves.

Posted in Color Measurement

Building Material Industry Color Standards

Posted on Nov 28, 2023 by HunterLab

Color standards for building materials provide material manufacturers and construction companies with a reference point to ensure their materials meet customer expectations. Companies use color charts and matching systems to monitor color consistency for many types of materials, from concrete to roofing shingles to interior or exterior paint. Identifying potential material defects ahead of time saves businesses significant money on replacement materials and labor.

What Are Color Standards and Why Are They Important?

In the construction industry, companies often provide their customers with swatches or material samples specifying exact colors. These samples are vital for commercial companies that depend on a unique color for branding and marketing purposes. In addition, many educational facilities, municipalities and governments use specific color coding in their buildings.

Matching the samples to a particular type of building material can often be challenging for both builders and manufacturers, as many of these products have varying degrees of textures, roughness and thicknesses.

When customers choose a specific color for their building project, the construction company is responsible for meeting all the corresponding color matching standards. While no firm color charts are exclusive to all building materials, various international color standards — like the Pantone Matching System (PMS) — exist for materials like paint, wood, steel and plastic. Experienced builders will lay out the standards and consistencies they adhere to before beginning a project.

Posted in Color Measurement

Food Industry Color Standards

Posted on Nov 28, 2023 by HunterLab

Matching colors and maintaining color consistency in the food industry are critical for ensuring consumer health and safety. Color can often communicate a product issue caused by faulty processing or defective ingredients. Some examples of these deviations include improper cooking temperatures, inadequate refrigeration levels or incorrect dyes.

Different foods use various color matching standards as primary quality control methods.

Posted in Color Measurement

The Importance of Color Consistency in the Cereal Industry

Posted on Nov 28, 2023 by HunterLab

Color has long been among the most preferred tools for evaluating food quality, including breakfast cereals and grain products. A cereal's color often influences how consumers perceive its taste and freshness. Because a food product's success heavily depends on customer satisfaction, food processing companies must take every measure possible to ensure their products meet the highest standards.

What Is Color Consistency?

Color consistency is the average amount of chromaticity fluctuation between two samples. Chromaticity represents a surface's color quality without considering brightness or how external light hits it. In food processing, color consistency often consists of visually comparing samples of the same product or verifying a food's color against an existing standard, like a color chart.

Why Color Consistency Is Important in the Cereal Industry

Monitoring color consistency is often the first quality control step for cereal producers. These operations depend on advanced technology like spectrophotometers to alert them of any real-time variations during manufacturing, saving significant money in case of a defective product. Cooking times, baking temperatures and ingredient quality can all affect a cereal's color, emphasizing the importance of quality control throughout each stage.

Spectrophotometers go far beyond the visual capabilities of the human eye by controlling light variation, product texture and viewing angle. Both the Cereals & Grains Association and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommend spectrophotometry as a reliable color analysis method for cereal and other grain-based products.

Additionally, frequent color inconsistencies can damage a cereal company's reputation if the product reaches the consumer, making it even more critical to employ the strictest quality control methods during processing.

Posted in Color Measurement

The Importance of Color Consistency in the Building Materials Industry

Posted on Nov 28, 2023 by HunterLab

Because builders continue using materials with a broader range of colors, patterns and textures, maintaining color consistency throughout construction is more critical now than ever. In the commercial world, many companies use certain color tones or shades to trademark their brands. These businesses pay top dollar for precise color matching, requiring builders to take the most effective measures to maintain color consistency from early project stages through completion.

Posted in Explore By Category

Why Color Control Is Important for Building Materials

Posted on Nov 28, 2023 by HunterLab

As color selections for indoor and outdoor building designs expand with vivid and intriguing new options, quality control tools for measuring color consistency in architecture have become more critical than ever. When buyers pay top dollar for a new home or commercial facility, they expect near-perfect craftsmanship for all elements of their property. Using a single building product that varies even slightly in color can quickly destroy the aesthetics of an entire large-scale project.

What Is Color Control?

In construction, color control primarily means maintaining consistency in one color application and accurate color matches across multiple material types. Regardless of which color or pattern the buyer chooses, builders are responsible for maintaining consistency throughout the entire construction process. Because materials like glass, shingles, tile, bricks and wood have different characteristics, maintaining color control during a project can be challenging.

Recognizing potentially defective building products ahead of time means preventing significant monetary losses, which typically fall on the builder's shoulders. One of the best ways of controlling these issues is by implementing a thorough inspection process before using the materials.

Why Is Color Control Important for Building Materials and Architecture?

Color control or color matching is vital in construction because of the extensive range and variation in materials used throughout the industry. While many builders offer swatches and color samples to their customers for pre-approval, matching them to specific materials can be much more challenging because of the various textures and roughnesses associated with different products. To remedy these problems, designers have grown accustomed to furnishing actual product samples revealing exact colors.

Color control is even more critical in the building material manufacturing process. Many companies have implemented colorimeters or spectrophotometers to ensure the highest color consistency levels. Choosing the best tool for measuring building materials often depends on the product's opacity, roughness or specific texture.

At HunterLab, we offer a comprehensive selection of color measurement tools to handle an extensive range of building materials, from roofing shingles and ceramic tiles to windows and coated glass. Our experienced team leverages decades of technical expertise to help our customers choose the most reliable, accurate and cost-effective tools for their operations. We pride ourselves on providing the guidance you need to enhance color consistency.

Connect With HunterLab's Expert Team Today

Get in touch with our team today to obtain additional product information or request pricing on a specific measurement tool. Please also explore our extensive blog for more insightful posts on color science and color measuring.

Posted in Color Measurement
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