Zinc/cobalt aluminates with spinel-type structure were prepared by a polymeric route, leading to a pure phase with controlled grain size. The prepared pigments were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction Rietveld analyses in order to determine structural features, scanning electron microscopy for morphological investigation, helium pycnometry and Al-27 MAS NMR in order to highlight the occurrence of defects inside the structure, and UV-visible-near-IR spectroscopy to identify electronic transitions responsible for the compounds' color. The green-blue coloration of these pigments is known to be dependent on the sample thermal history. Here, for the first time, the Zn1-xCoxAl2O4 color is newly interpreted. The pigment is green once synthesized at low temperature (i.e., with diminution of the pigment grain size); this variation was attributed to the appearance of a new absorption band located at about 500 nm, linked to a complex network feature involving Co ions in octahedral sites as well as oxygen and cationic vacancies. Hence, this work shows the possibility of easily getting a nonstoichiometric network with an abnormal cationic distribution from "chimie douce" processes with moderate synthesis temperature, and so various colorations for the same composition.