Butterfly: the new frontier in colour communication

15/09/2017

Butterfly: the new frontier in colour communication

Research is increasingly showing that colour plays an important role in our lives. With colour we can transform a space, create a style, convey our mood and translate our emotions into an expression of our personality.

Architects, creatives and, more generally, professionals involved in space and product design are paying increasing attention to this very significant aspect. But retailers, too, are being called upon by customers to provide an opinion regarding colour choices. This translates into a need for manufacturers of coatings for the construction industry, as well as other companies that make colour their business, to supply increasingly effective tools that help customers navigate the world of colour. Fan decks are among the most widely used tools to communicate colour.

EuroColori has just completed a multi-year study whose aim was developing a colour scale system based on sophisticated proprietary mathematical algorithms. As a result of this study and the experience gained by EuroColori over its thirty years of business, the new Butterfly 1111 colour chart was developed.

The Butterfly system offers a selection of 1,111 colours able to meet the needs of those who are looking for a life-improving colour experience. The system, defined for the D65 illuminant, is arranged in four sections: neutral exterior colours (255 shades), brilliant exterior colours (200 shades), Energy Saver exterior colours (87 shades), and interior colours (569 shades). The reflectance of each sample was measured and thus the equivalent tristimulus values are recorded and filed.

The colour space of the Butterfly system is not uniform because it is bound to the proprietary mathematical algorithm; it follows the latest trends and anticipates near-future ones.

Furthermore, the Butterfly system was developed using only EuroColori tinting pastes, so a high degree of colour reproducibility is ensured.

The Butterfly colour chart comes in three versions: Butterfly 1111 includes all the colours, both interior and exterior; Butterfly 542 just the selection of exterior colours; Butterfly 569 just the selection of interior colours.

The Butterfly system provides an added technological value that enables a rapid and technically reliable assessment of the light conditions most suitable for viewing the colour. This avoids the occurrence of metamerism issues that often affect the colour industry. For an observer, two colour samples may appear the same under a certain illuminant and different under another illuminant (the standard illuminant recommended by the CIE for architecture is the D65 illuminant). In colour communication, this metamerism phenomenon has been shown to be the main source of disputes.

EuroColori makes the colour professional’s job easier by introducing the EuroColori Light Indicator (ELI) system in its colour chart. This system guides the professional in the choice of the ideal light conditions for colour comparison, thus avoiding metamerism and obtaining accurate results. When ELI is subjected to the right light conditions, the two components display the same colour. If the two components are of two different colours, the light conditions are not suitable for a proper assessment of the colours. In fact, the farther from the D65 illuminant the light conditions are, the more the contrast is visible between the two components.

Together with the EuroFormulations software, the Butterfly and ELI systems optimise the process and enable perfect colour communication management that can meet any architectural decorative finish need.

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