When digital meets print in the design world, colour consistency is a cornerstone for impactful branding. Consistent brand colouring can hugely increase brand recall and identification, positively impacting your sales and engagement.
Brand consistency is a huge part of facilitating recall, and it's been found to increase revenue by 10-20%.
Throughout this blog post, we'll dive into the intricacies of colour consistency and offer practical guidance for your brand based on our recent experiences.
Bridging the Gap: Navigating Colour Consistency Together
When building a brand, marketers and designers must work closely together to create a consistent, recognisable brand identity across all platforms.
We always encourage open dialogues with your print partner to gain an understanding of the nuances between digital and print colours. You'll maximise your visual impact and ensure consistency across your materials by doing so.
Colour Recommendations: Navigating the Spectrum
When it comes to printing in colour, subtleties can make all the difference. Understanding how each colour will translate into high-quality print is our expertise, and we can advise on colours that could pose challenges in the printing process.
Avoiding Extremes: A Delicate Balance
Certain colours, particularly those with an abundance of ink (excessively dark) or very little ink (extremely light), typically require special attention to ensure the end product is perfect. It's crucial to consider these nuances as they can impact the overall quality of your prints.
Navigating the Tips and Tricks of Colour Consistency
Colour consistency depends on several factors, including whether your job is for a litho or digital print.
Litho and digital print processes respond differently to colours, and understanding these distinctions is critical to achieving your desired outcome.
Consider what’s most important to you — product imagery or brand colours?
Example: If you adjust magenta to perfect a block colour, it also impacts magenta in the imagery. We understand that both elements are important, but we also want your expectations to be realistic, so it’s essential to be aware of this.
Other external factors, such as temperature and air pressure, play roles in colour reproduction. These variables are carefully considered in our printing processes to ensure the integrity of your brand colours under diverse conditions.
Backlit Screens vs. Paper: Unravelling the Discrepancy
One of the main reasons for the difference in colour perception between digital and print comes down to the backlighting of screens.
Screens emit light, so there's a slightly flatter appearance when it comes to colour on paper. Recognising this difference is crucial for aligning expectations between your digital designs and printed products.
Strategies for Consistency: Practical Tips for Success
We often plan practical strategies with our customers to ensure they get the desired result when it comes to colour consistency.
- Your brand, your guide: Develop a brand style guide with digital and print colour usage specifications, creating a unified visual identity.
- Printed proofs for confidence: Before finalising anything, invest in printing samples to identify any colour variations and guarantee the desired outcome.
Navigating Your Proofing Options
When it comes to printed proofs, you have several options that can instil confidence in your final designs. Let’s take a brief look at some below.
- PDF proof: Offers an on-screen preview of your final product and is commonplace in the printing industry.
- Digitally printed proofs: Ensures your text and layout align with expectations. While they don’t emphasise colour, they provide a checkpoint for content accuracy.
- Epson proofs: Using the power of advanced 14-colour Epson printers, an Epson proof serves as an accurate preview to ensure design perfection.
- Wet proof: Perfect for colour aficionados, a wet proof is an exact print of your job on your desired paper stock. Although it incurs a cost, it’s a worthy investment to preview your job.
Case Study: Magnet Kitchens
Magnet Kitchens is a great example of consistent brand identity, with its signature blue working across digital and print platforms.
To achieve the right result, we conducted extensive tests to ensure their colour remained consistent across various print and digital assets.
“The whole team at B&B are fantastic to work with, showing amazing dedication and professionalism in everything they do for us. We regularly challenge them, and they consistently go above and beyond to rise to these challenges and deliver exceptional work.” — Magnet Kitchens
It's crucial to note that printing on different materials can impact your colours, and adding different finishes introduces another layer of complexity.
Pursuing colour consistency is no easy feat if you add print to the mix. Still, via comprehensive testing and on-site assessments, Magnet Kitchens achieved a consistent finish across all print assets.
Mastering the Art of Print
At B&B Press, we recognise that mastering colour consistency is not just a design skill — it's a collaborative journey.
For marketers and designers alike, investing time in early discussions, collaborating closely with your print partners and implementing practical strategies ensures your brand's colours tell a consistent and compelling story across digital and print.
Let's paint a vibrant, consistent narrative together. Explore our comprehensive guide on producing brilliant print to enhance your brand's story.
