I am currently working on a project to create custom labels for various products in my business. While I have found a great printing service that can handle the design and printing process, I am struggling to ensure consistent color quality across different label batches. This is crucial for my branding and product presentation.
I have noticed that sometimes the colors on the labels do not match what I see on my computer screen or the color samples I provide to the printer. This inconsistency is frustrating, and I want to maintain a professional and uniform look for my labels.
Could you please advise me on steps or strategies I can take to ensure that the colors on my custom labels are consistently accurate and match my brand guidelines? Are there specific file formats or color profiles I should use when submitting my designs? Any advice on how to communicate my color requirements effectively to the printing service or things I can check when I receive the labels to ensure color accuracy would be greatly appreciated.
Every colour has a specific code, not sure what the standards are and unless you can custom fabricate filament to what colour you have chosen for your labels, you may be out of luck. The work around is use a branded filament that has a specific colour but then you are also at the mercy of that brand. Filament colours are not as wide ranging as anything you can get in a standard printed medium.
In 3D printing, each color corresponds to a specific color code, which is often defined by industry standards such as Pantone or RAL. Custom fabricating filament to match a unique color choice can be challenging. One workaround is to use branded filaments with specific colors, but this will limit you to the colors available in that brand’s range. Filament colors are generally less diverse than those achievable through standard printed media.
Colors often do not match how they are presented on a computer screen, this is a byproduct of how the led’s display color.
If you wanted something color accurate there are certain monitors that can cover up to 99% of the DCI-P3 color space, essentially meaning they are 99% accurate to real life. But they can be pretty pricey, If I remember right most standard monitors usually cover between 90-95% but even past that there are other factors which can affect how the color looks. These can be things such as monitor brightness, contrast settings, movie or cinematic modes, lighting in the room, the paper the sticker has been printed on, other colors on the sticker. It can all begin to become a nightmare fast!
I know there are some places where you can go to use very color accurate displays, some makerspaces/ production studios have them. You can always call local ones and see if there are any available that you could use for a little while. But even past that, the environmental will still affect the screen. I remember the one they had at my school was in a dim light controlled room with heat control and everything, you weren’t allowed to touch any of the controls for the display as they had it set up as accurately as it would go.
One way to ensure quality across more stickers is just to order larger batches, most of the time the companies will mix just enough color for the batch that they are making. So across batches there can be some differences in the ratios and mixing process. If you order larger batches of labels then they will most likely all be made using the same batch of ink which will give you better results.
I work in a fully color managed lab. It is very complex, and very expensive.
First you need a display, IMO a 100% SRGB with a low contrast is good enough for most applications. DCI-P3 is cinematic space basically SRGB with a red blue adjustment. SRGB is 16581375 colours. (actually slightly less but lets not nit pic) Humans can discern around 1 million colours and human vision is around 19 million different colours.
Having a lot more is a bit over kill. Contrast is the crux of the issue too much makes a mess of it all. Eizo color edge are the best around but there are a handful of others that are good and some that will do that don’t cost a fortune.
Good monitor- check.
Linerization is next basically a tool is attached to the display a bunch of color patches are flaked on screen and a deviations measured. The display is then adjusted to correct out cast. Basically it is set to display as neutral colour as possible and as many colours as it is able.
The next step is a ICC ( International colour consortium) file is created of where and what the variations are.
The next step is the printer for labels or anything needs to also be calibrated similar file of deviations.
in software that supports ICC proofing you then calculate the display deviations soft correct any bas out, and simulate the printers particulars and capable colours on screen.
The parameters of the emulation are sent to the printer along with the printer deviation correction and a colour accurate print is made.
Pantone bypasses this by using spot collars of calibrated inks and a book of calibrated patches you completely ignore the screen colours.
It is serious bucks many print houses don’t. Eizo can easily be 3K and 30K for the most costly. Instruments for calibration and software (Spectrophotometers for example) can also easily be 3K and up.
If you really need good accurate color, speak to a professional printer (the one you are using) they can guide you to be the best results. They want you to return and it is a relationship and understanding. It is not going to be cheap easy or fast. It is a huge issue and there are no turnkey solutions.
If I remember correctly you can get a Pantone color addon for photoshop as well right? This way you can work in colors that you know will be reproducible.
Its been a while since I used anything like that, I don’t remember if that came stock with photoshop or weather you have to add it on.