The Chroma Institute works with miniature paint manufacturers to build accurate, independently measured colour data for use in Paint Lab.
By providing physical paint samples for testing, manufacturers can ensure their products are represented using consistent, independently measured colour data thereby allowing painters to discover, compare and use their paints alongside products from across the market.
The Manufacturer Product Sample Programme provides paint manufacturers with a straightforward way to have their products independently tested and included in the Paint Lab dataset.
Manufacturers provide physical samples of the paints they would like represented. These samples are prepared and measured using a consistent testing methodology designed specifically for miniature paints.
The resulting colour measurements are used to position each paint within a common perceptual colour space, allowing products from different ranges and manufacturers to be compared on the same basis.
There is no requirement for manufacturers to provide digital colour values or attempt to reproduce the colour of their paints on screen. Paint Lab is built from measurements of the physical paints themselves.
Digital swatches, RGB values and HEX codes can be useful for displaying colour, but they do not provide a consistent basis for comparing physical paints from different manufacturers.
Paint Lab instead uses measurements taken from physical paint samples under controlled conditions. Applying the same measurement methodology across manufacturers creates a common dataset in which paints can be compared according to their measured colour characteristics rather than the way they happen to be represented on a website, label or colour chart. This allows painters to search across manufacturers while preserving the identity of the individual products and ranges represented within Paint Lab.
Inclusion in Paint Lab makes paints discoverable through colour.
A painter searching for a particular colour does not need to begin with a manufacturer, range or product name. Paint Lab can use measured colour relationships to identify relevant paints from across the dataset.
Participating paints can therefore appear when painters:
For manufacturers, this creates another route through which painters can discover products, one based not on advertising or brand familiarity, but on the measured characteristics of the paint itself.
Paint Lab does not rank manufacturers or designate one brand as better than another. Its purpose is to provide painters with consistent information and allow the measured properties of each paint to speak for themselves.
We welcome enquiries from miniature paint manufacturers interested in having their products independently measured and represented within Paint Lab.
The Chroma Institute can provide further information about sample requirements, the testing process, data collection, and how measured products will be represented within the platform.
If you manufacture miniature paints and would like to discuss participation in the Manufacturer Product Sample Programme, we would be pleased to hear from you.