West Coast Epoxy is proud to offer a spectacular variety of color shades and combinations for concrete flooring. But it’s not just our epoxies that come in such a wide variety of colors! There are also the color flakes, micas and granules we use, along with our concrete stains and similar products. For any moderately sized job, it’s important that every container of product we use contains materials that are exactly alike. Otherwise, applying a new batch of epoxy or colorant with a slightly different shade would ruin the intended look and feel of the finished floor.
To stop this from happening, companies that make color products do not rely merely on technical equipment to check their manufacturing processes. They also use human eyes to regularly provide quality control. These employees are able to differentiate between very slight changes in color. To get and keep such a job, workers must periodically undergo testing to verify that they can effectively recognize different color hues.
The Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Test
In 1942, Dr. Dean Farnsworth began researching medical aspects of human vision for the US Navy. His research covered many different physical abilities related to sight, and led to the development of tests that are still in use today to determine color sensitivity or color blindness. For example, Farnsworth created what is now called the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Test. It uses 88 colored tiles that are each a slightly different hue, split up into four groups of 22 tiles. Each group begins and ends with an “anchor” color tile. The goal is to arrange the remaining tiles in a line, so the color of each tile progressively shifts from the beginning tile to the end tile.
The test thereby determines the level of a person’s hue discrimination. In other words, it verifies how well they perceive slight changes in color. Individuals who pass with high marks — usually ten errors or less — may work jobs that deal with color control. Records indicate that only a small percent of the population is able to reach this level. Yet with skill and experience, some workers pass this test with zero errors, making them highly demanded quality control employees.
Would you like to try your hand — actually your eyes — at this test? There are unofficial versions of the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Test online. You can take the ones offered for free at color-blindness.com or xrite.com, as well as other sites.
West Coast Epoxy wants to make sure your concrete floors feature the colors and shades you choose, bringing you a durable, safe, and great-looking floor. We want your experience to be as professional and enjoyable as your final product. Please give us a call or schedule an appointment online, so we can show you our “true” colors.