AbstractThe colour resulting from the partial overlap of tiny dots of cyan, magenta, and yellow inks in a matrix is difficult to predict. A method of simulating it on the macro‐scale has been devised by measuring discs with coloured sectors using a spectrophotometer. Here the separate colours are mixed within the integrating sphere of the instrument. Although subtractive mixing occurs where colours overlap, the overall result to the eye/brain is interpreted by additive means. The result of mixing known areas of coloured surfaces additively was predicted successfully by Maxwell in the last century. His method, combined with the use of the CIE System, has been successfully used to predict the coordinates of the mixture of coloured sectors measured on the spectrophotometer. The theoretical model developed applies to trichromatic or polychromatic printing, whatever the substrate. © 1995 John Wiley&Sons, I