synesthesia (In French synesthésie) see psychology of colors.

SWOP, Specifications of Web Offset Publications GRACoL standard (USA) for heatset process color scales; meanwhile internationally available color separation mode.

swatch (In French plage de couleur) color sample from a color specimen book.

surround[ing] field (In French champ environnant) color area and further surroundings located around the color stimulus (infield) to be evaluated. The surrounding field influences color comparisons to an extreme extent and should therefore be kept in a neutral gray.

surface suitability (In French adéquation au support) suitability of a printing ink for uncoated or coated, absorbent or nonabsorbent surfaces.

surface/object colors (In French couleurs du corps) opaque paints, transparent printing inks or transparent foils and filters whose spectral light weakening effects (absorption) are multiplicatively influenced when blended or applied in series (physical color blending). The color stimuli are created through spectral remission on the surfaces of the objects or through spectral transmission on passage through transparent media.

sudden chromaticity shift (In French saute de couleur) effect in additive, physical and especially frequently in autotypical color mixing, for example especially conspicuous in three-color gray despite uniform increase or lowering of the surface coverage of all three mixing components C+M+Y, the gray “shifts” to a color cast at a certain overall surface coverage level. This is why disproportionately large CMY shares from quarter tones through mid-tones to three-quarter tones are recommended for the gray…

subtractive color mixture (In French synthèse soustractive) see absorptive interference of surface colors.

subpixels (In French sous-pixel) in monitors, the division of the picture element into the sub-elements R, G, B.

straight-on printing inks (In French encres pour impression recto) printing inks that are not suitable for use on sheet-fed offset presses for recto and verso printing.

store light/three-band lamp TL84 (In French éclairage type magasin) the most important industrial standard light source (4100 K), which is not standardized by the CIE, but which can be copied by most color-matching booths.

Stilling’s test (In French test de Stilling et Hertel) procedure for assessing color sense, in which cards consisting of differently colored dot elements are presented; from these, letters or numbers, for example, must be recognized in order to rule out color vision deficiency. Through a modification of these test cards by S. Ishihara, it is also possible to identify the type of color vision deficiency; standard test for all occupations dealing with color.

stickiness, tackiness (In French poisseux) adhesion properties of the printing ink layer from moist to drying status; influence on tack, susceptibility to picking and stacking properties (tendency to set-off and blocking). Excessively high stacking temperatures increase the tackiness of supposedly hardened UV inks.

standard observer (In French observateur de référence) field of view angles standardized by the CIE of 2° (1931) and 10° (1964). The 2° angle, which applies for printing and the media, is called “foveal vision” on account of the influence of the high cone concentration in the macula lutea or in the fovea. The 10° angle (“wide field”), which was developed for the textile and automobile industries, also includes the blind spot. 2° and 10°…

standard illuminants (In French illuminants normalisés) illuminants defined by the CIE in the form of tables of the spectral radiation distribution (at 5 nm intervals), among other things for light bulbs A (2856 K) and artificial daylight D50 (5003 K), D65 (6504 K).

standard (illuminant) lighting (In French éclairage avec illuminants normalisés) lighting for color matching desks in prepress and printshop as well as viewing facilities for proofs (e.g. Just colorCommunicator). The devices are equipped with fluorescent lamps or LEDs which have a high color rendering index.

spot color (In French couleur d’accompagnement) printing ink which is printed in full tone in addition to the process colors CMYK, e.g. a company color or on packaging; see also special color.

spectrum (In French spectre) see electromagnetic spectrum.