DataColor’s Color Reader
No matter who you are or where you’re from, colour plays a huge part in day to day life! Working with designers and architects on a regular basis, we see the ins and outs of how they work specifically with colour and have come to appreciate some of the innovative colour measuring tools used within these industries. A new product which we have come across recently is the impressive ColorReader by DataColor.
What is it?
Simply put, the ColorReader is a colour matching solution – it matches any colour in your surroundings to a specific paint shade. When there is even a slight change in lighting or texture, it can massively impact how a colour is viewed by the eye; the tool overcomes this by matching colours far more precisely and efficiently than the human eye can. Impressive, right?
Why it is used and who uses it?
The ColorReader has loads of purposes and is not only used by interior designers, but by painters too. An example of when you might use it is when designing a busy living space. You are going to coordinate an abundance of furnishings and accessories to one another, and want the colours to look just right. You may use it to match the cushion with the curtains and the wall-hangings with the lampshades, and then use it to coordinate these with an exact paint shade that will compliment all of these! Or suppose also you would like to touch up a wall in a kitchen that’s looking a bit worn, but you are unsure of what colour it was previously painted – the ColorReader can come in handy for that too! Designers can spend hours going back and forth between paint shades; deliberating, deliberating, deliberating. With this device, designers and painters can be sure of the perfect paint shade in a matter of seconds; it has over 95% success rate! From using this device, we have found that the more times you use it, the more uses you find for it – we love the fact that you can view a tonne of paint shades with the touch of a button. There’s no need to be carrying around bulky RAL and Pantone fan decks when they are in your pocket on your smartphone…
How it is used?
The ColorReader is small and portable, and it fits right into the palm of your hand. Simply download the mobile application, connect the device to your phone via Bluetooth, press calibrate and you are ready to go! It is easily used by holding the device against the colour you would like to match, and pressing “Read” on the app. The most accurate three paint shade matches will then appear with specifications of the colours, and the option to coordinate colours either complementary, triads, analogous or monochromatic.
One of our clients was designing a large property and came across a covered brick wall. They used the tool to measure the colour of the wall and create colour palettes within the app to find furniture and fabrics to compliment it – and it really worked! The great thing about this was that they were also able to share these paint palettes with their client which allowed the client to easily be a part of the decision-making process. All of the colours within the room balanced, and everything matched just right – we were very impressed.
This tool works like magic! The days of Star Trek are here with futuristic devices like this coming into play…