Thursday, May 26, 2011

Farnsworth Munsell Test

Have you ever had you eyes tested for colour?
I think most of us would have had experience with the "Ishihara / colour blind" tests ...

It's still quite amazing to think that 8% of all men have some level of colour blindness, whereas the percentage within women stands at 0.4% 

Well, where I work - colour matching and discriminating within the slightest shades of colour is an important factor of the leather that we create. Our product must pass colour tolerances, as the colour of the leather must match and/or compliment the other components in the car.

Have you ever thought about that when getting into a car? that each component has had not just its physical properties and appearance approved - but the colour too ... and each one is designed/approved with the others in mind.

So, in this industry - the colour tests we take are more detailed and designed to make us see where our weaknesses and strengths are. 

Recently, I took the "Farnsworth-Munsell" test. Not that I colour match as part of my job, but different eyes perceiving colour differently helps when we are submitting leather for colour approval. opinions are important at this point of the process.
Before the test, I really had no confidence in how my eyes saw colour. I was reluctant to give opinions because it is so subjective, so I took the test out of curiosity and to know where my weaknesses are so I could participate more in this subject in the future.


The test consists of 4 colour boards, each with little colour discs. the discs at the end of the rows are there as your start/end point ... and the other discs come out, get mixed up as mch as scrabble tiles - and then it is your job to put them back in the right place. The test is taken in Daylight, and you are against the clock.

Well, I have to admit - I was pleasantly suprised. I got only one wrong! Yes! just one ... on the "purple/blue" board. and I have been classes as having "superior colour discrimination" I am chuffed, I never had thought my eyes could have distinguised so well.

Here are my results ...

6 comments:

  1. Fascinating!!..so what was the number in the top circle supposed to mean?..I can see 56..am I normal?...;o)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, that's a great result. I did a similar sort of test online, but I wasn't very good at it. :(

    I think it was similar to this one: http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77&Lang=en

    ReplyDelete
  3. Georgie - if you can see the colour in the top circle - it's a good thing, it shows that you can distinguish between red/green - which some people suffer with.

    Kitty - that is EXACTLy the test that i took. but an online version. Don't be worried about your score though - there are so many vairables as to why you should not tkae the test online (monitor clarity, are you taking the test in artificial light or not?) x

    ReplyDelete
  4. That's interesting, Nicola - I didn't realise so much went into car production. And they reckon women buy cars based on the colour! :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. omg! I took this color test too, at work - while I did miss more than one, I also have superior color discrimination! AMAZING :)

    ReplyDelete