The idea behind the different colour patterns was to do justice to the different light conditions at different times of the year. However, both colour patterns were soon confused. It is important to understand that camouflage, which is based on colour design, is not intended to make an object disappear. Instead, it reduces the conspicuousness of the object and breaks up the contour to make it more difficult to recognise.
The aircraft fabric in its distinctive polygonal designs was the result of extensive experiments with various forms of fabric printing. Other camouflage patterns were also experimented with at the same time, including the pattern with a three-colour background and circular dots of different sizes, but this did not catch on.
As is still the case today, colours were subject to subjective perception at the time. Printing fabrics and achieving reproducible, uniform colour tones was and still is a challenge today, as many factors can influence the result.
German lozenge camouflage therefore had not only military but also artistic roots.