Color quality control ensures consistency, repeatability, and reliability across industries. It involves defining colors, using standardized systems, monitoring production, and addressing problems immediately. Specialists have good vision, color theory knowledge, and use scientific instruments. Incentives are provided for quick problem identification and fixing.
Color quality control is a process used to ensure color consistency, repeatability and reliability in industries ranging from paint manufacturing to magazine printing. It includes a variety of measures, ranging from using scientific instruments to gather very accurate data on the colors used in a particular project to having personnel walk the line to check for violations of procedure that could compromise color quality. People involved in the manufacturing of paints, dyes, inks, and so on often attend training programs to learn more about color quality control.
Consumers expect colors to remain consistent across batches and products; knitters, for example, rely on being able to buy matching yarns for projects. Also, very consistent and accurate coloring is expected for things like logos, as many companies use color extensively in branding and marketing their products and rely on consistent, uniform colors for consumer recognition.
Part of controlling color quality requires defining colors clearly at the start of a project, using a standardized system so there is no confusion. In printing, for example, many people use the cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (CMYK) system for color blending and matching. This information is used to determine how to mix inks, dyes and varnishes to produce products of the desired shade. The mixing process is carefully regulated and issues such as discoloration stabilizers must also be addressed.
When a project is produced, whether it’s a series of slides in development for a photographer or a batch of paint for a house, color quality control continues with project monitoring during production. If signs of problems are identified, they are addressed immediately. These can include anything from discolorations in the finished project to specks or lines appearing where they shouldn’t be. People need to be able to identify problems as they develop and act quickly to correct them before the project is compromised.
Color quality control specialists usually have very good vision and are skilled at distinguishing subtle shades and differences in coloration. They are also trained in color theory and are sometimes art school graduates. They are familiar with the systems used to classify and quantify colors and are also comfortable with using scientific instruments such as spectrometers used to analyze products for color variations. In some workplaces, incentives are provided in the form of bonuses to people who quickly identify and fix color problems, as this will save the company money.
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