When designing a product, home interior or architectural structure – colour should always be a major consideration. People make subconscious judgements about designs largely based on colour as it can be the most striking feature. When considering colour choices and changes, you should also pay special attention to contributing lighting.

Colour is defined by two aspects: the chemistry of a pigment and the type of light that shines on it. Using only one light source, a given colour could be matched with multiple pigment combinations, but change the light source and these matches will look visually different from one another. This is known as a metameric match.

Fluorescent lighting has more blue light that bounces off of objects, giving colours a cooler appearance. Incandescent lightbulbs show more in the red and green range, giving colours a brighter appearance.

Light and colour can work together to complement each other, but light could also negatively alter the intensity or warmth of a colour. It is important to understand the relationship between the two design features, both in lighting design and architecture.