gordo
Well-known member
Add another presswork color variable - it turns out that the perception of grey balance is affected by smell.
In a study, participants sat in front of a screen filled with a random color, whilst an ultrasonic diffuser pumped one of six odors into the room – caramel, cherry, coffee, lemon, peppermint, or water as a control – for five minutes. Using two sliders, participants were then asked to manually adjust the color on a screen to what they perceived to be true neutral gray.
The study found that people had a weak but significant tendency to shift the color too far away from neutral gray, in different but predictable ways depending on the scent – except for peppermint. The smell of coffee made participants perceive gray as a more red-brown color, whilst caramel led to more of a yellow-brown. To be expected given their respective dullness, odorless water corresponded to true neutral gray.
Since a mist of water odor corresponded to true neutral gray it's probably prudent to spray water on your press operators a few times during the printing of a job. I'm sure they will appreciate the help with getting the color right.
You can read about the the actual scientific study here:
In a study, participants sat in front of a screen filled with a random color, whilst an ultrasonic diffuser pumped one of six odors into the room – caramel, cherry, coffee, lemon, peppermint, or water as a control – for five minutes. Using two sliders, participants were then asked to manually adjust the color on a screen to what they perceived to be true neutral gray.
The study found that people had a weak but significant tendency to shift the color too far away from neutral gray, in different but predictable ways depending on the scent – except for peppermint. The smell of coffee made participants perceive gray as a more red-brown color, whilst caramel led to more of a yellow-brown. To be expected given their respective dullness, odorless water corresponded to true neutral gray.
Since a mist of water odor corresponded to true neutral gray it's probably prudent to spray water on your press operators a few times during the printing of a job. I'm sure they will appreciate the help with getting the color right.
You can read about the the actual scientific study here:
Our Sense Of Smell Changes How We See Color
Different odors can affect how we perceive a particular color.
www.iflscience.com