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A recent amendment to the EU Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment will remove the current exemption for mercury to be used in a number of types of fluorescent lamps for special purposes by 24th of February 2025. These bulbs are defined under clause 2(b)(4)-I of the EU REACH directive. After the expiration date, the sale of new equipment including fluorescent technology under this exemption will not be allowed in Europe. Th...

The environmental footprint of fashion is out of control. According to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), “Textile mills generate one-fifth of the world's industrial water pollution and use 20,000 chemicals, many of them carcinogenic, to make clothes.” Fabric being dyed in factory. Image from NRDC.org.  A Problem That Impacts Everyone Did you know it takes about 200 tons of water (enough to fill several swimming pools) to produce one ton of cott...

If ensuring color consistency is part of your job description, you’ll want to learn more about PantoneLIVE. Our customers report that it helps them get products to market an average of four times faster! PantoneLIVE is an end-to-end, digital color communication ecosystem that helps everyone involved in a packaging workflow visualize and communicate color. It shows which colors are achievable, and which are not, across everything from flexible packaging to corrugated board. And, since the digital...

When all of final production packaging comes together on the store shelf, it’s a brand’s moment of truth. Do the stand-up pouches, overwraps, and corrugated POP displays match? How close is the color to its standard? We know you spend so much time and money designing, proofing, sampling, printing, and shipping… so where does the color go wrong? Is it an issue with accuracy, consistency, or both? Package designs come together on the shelf. Here you see pouches, labels, cartons, and corrugated wit...

What happens when you have more than 2,000 brand colors to manage across a complex global packaging supply chain? Things get complicated! Although it may seem easier to create a new color than to dig through databases or binders of color drawdowns to find the closest match, the problem comes later when you’re faced with a huge, unmanageable library. One of our clients, a well-known fast-moving consumer packaged goods (FMCG) company, understands how easily things can get out of control. They wer...

Does your quality control program include visual evaluation? If not, it should. Using the SpectraLight QC as part of a color evaluation workflow. No matter your industry, judging color is more than just measuring samples with a color measurement device. Just because a spectrophotometer says your color is within tolerance, doesn’t necessarily mean it will look right to the human eye. To minimize customer rejects, your color control process needs to include visual evaluation in a light boo...

브랜드 컬러 선택, 새로운 제품 라인을 위한 팔레트 제작, 계절 패키지 디자인 작업을 수행할 때 영감은 색상 선택의 핵심 단계입니다. 영감은 일상적 장소에서 얻을 수 있으며, 예를 들면 다음과 같습니다. 파티. 식료품점. 스포츠 이벤트. 대자연. 대자연은 가장 아름다운 컬러 팔레트를 만드는 재주가 있습니다. "2022/2023 가을/겨울 컬러는 풍부한 톤과 함께 편안하고 회복력 있는 다양한 컬러를 통해 고요함과 편안함에 대한 우리의 욕구를 활력 넘치는 에너지와 대비시킵니다."라고 Pantone Color Institute의 전무 이사인 Leatrice Eiseman이 말했습니다. “우리가 모순으로 가득 찬 환경으로 나아갈 때, 2022/2023 가을/겨울 색상을 통해 소비자는 다양한 대비 색조 사이를 유연하게 이동할 수 있으며, 따라서 그들이 자신의 정체성과 그날의 느낌을 자발적으로 표현할 수 있게 해줍니다” 디자이너는 소비자를 유혹하는 다양한 색조와 조화로운 ...

색상이 중요하다고 말하지만, 중요한 이유를 아세요? 사실 색상은 제조 공정에서 매우 중요한 요소입니다. 유감스럽게도 많은 제조업체는 올바른 컬러를 얻는 것이 예전보다 훨씬 어렵다는 것을 깨닫고 있으며, 그들이 거래하는 브랜드는 더 엄격한 허용오차를 충족하도록 요구하고 있습니다. 그 이유는 다음과 같습니다. 색상 기술의 발전(예: 메탈릭 포장, 펄 광택 피니시, 맞춤형 직물 및 생동감 있는 새로운 컬러)이 고객을 유혹하지만 일관성 유지 작업은 훨씬 어렵게 만듭니다. 예를 들어 복합 데크를 생각해보세요. 예전에는 회색 또는 갈색의 두 가지 선택이 있었습니다. 그리고 데크 전체에 조화가 있는 한 고객은 만족했습니다. 그러나 이제는 짙은 나뭇결 패턴과 이국적인 컬러 등 다양한 옵션이 있으므로 제조업체는 두세 가지가 아닌 수십 가지 색상을 관리해야 하며, 일관성을 유지하는 것은 훨씬 어렵습니다. 포장도 또 하나의 좋은 예입니다. 예전에는 인쇄된 상자를 배치했던 매장 진열대에 이제는 호일...

There are many things that affect our ability to see color. In some cases, it doesn’t matter if the red you see is the same shade I see. A barn is a barn, right? But for those who work in an industry where color evaluation is part of the job, it IS important… VERY important. In our color perception series, we’re discussing the many factors that affect how we see color and what colorists can do to ensure that the color they see is the color they are supposed to see. Today we’ll take a closer look...

As the temperature of light changes, so does our perception of color. As I mentioned in our last post, light plays a huge role in the way we perceive color. Today we’ll look at the science of color in manufacturing and photography; specifically how an object’s reflective and absorptive properties and viewing technology can impact the colors we perceive. To reflect or not to reflect… that is the question. The colors an object absorbs and reflects is determined by its material – is it metal, plas...

According to autolist.com, over 80% of cars produced today are white, black, or some shade of gray. It’s not necessarily because bright and bold colors are more difficult to produce and match than their grayscale counterparts, they just take longer to get through the inspiration and car design process.  Believe it or not, producing a new auto color can take up to five years before it makes it to the showroom floor. It’s a long, tedious process for designers, paint...

L&E International, Ltd is a global provider of sustainable, innovative packaging solutions. As a certified packaging supplier for adidas, Verizon, Amazon (APASS vendor in Asia), Target, and many other brands and retailers, L&E maintains and upholds strict brand color standards across multiple countries and locations of manufacture.  Last year, L&E selected X-Rite digital color workflow solutions to maintain their high color matching expectations. We are excited to be working wit...

As the range of substrates, inks, and printing technologies has expanded, so has the challenge of maintaining color quality for brands and printers. A workflow based on digital standards is the easiest way to achieve accuracy and consistency across shifts and sites, regardless of production requirements. Adding a quality control solution like ColorCert® to your workflow can boost your bottom line even more. What is ColorCert? ColorCert is a modular, job-based solution that streamlines color ...

Light booths provide a controlled environment for judging color under different lighting conditions. They can help visually evaluate how different types of light will affect the perception of color, evaluate the color of raw materials before and after production, and ensure different components will remain uniform once they’re assembled.   But not all light booths are the same. With NIST traceability and ISO 17025 accreditation, X-Rite offers worldwide competence in calibration, cert...

The best way to visualize how color will react in real world lighting conditions is to use a quality light booth. Traditional light booths contain common illuminants like daylight, incandescent, and fluorescent to replicate how color will look in the retail store and post-purchase in outdoor and home lighting. Today, the increased use of LED lamps in home, commercial, and retail environments is impacting decades of standardized lighting procedures.   How LED is Changing the Game LED li...

  Extended Gamut Printing Increased product variation and lean manufacturing demands are forcing converters to work quicker and more cost-efficiently. Implementing extended gamut printing, also called fixed color palette printing, is a great way for brand owners and designers to specify achievable color, and for converters to reduce press setup time, produce smaller lot sizes, and increase press efficiency. In this video, X-Rite Pantone Color Expert Mark Gundlach explains extended color g...

Color measurement is used to specify, quantify, communicate, formulate, and verify color quality for color critical work. Because everyone perceives color differently, color measurement is more precise than visual evaluation.  How to Measure Color Wavelength To measure color, a color measurement device called a spectrophotometer shines light onto a sample and captures the amount of light that is transmitted or reflected in the 380 nm to 780 nm wavelength range, which is the wavelength rang...

Learn about light, reflection curves, optical brighteners, and more.     Illuminants Electro magnetic radiation in the wavelength range from 380 nm to 730 nm is seen as light by our eyes. Low wavelengths show as blue light, then the spectrum continues from green to yellow, orange, and red. UV radiation is located in the range below 380 nm; the range above 730 nm is called infrared radiation. The visual impression of a colored body changes by the composition of the incoming light. ...

COVID-19 has forced many companies to rethink the way they communicate, approve, and produce color.  For some, that means trying to conduct “business as usual” from a remote location. For others, it means finding ways to manage color without travel. Either way, we know our customers are doing everything they can to sustain business while keeping their employees healthy and safe. We want to help. Over the past few months we’ve been adding new resources to our virtual resou...

The Pantone Color of the Year announcement is always exciting. Not only does it set the stage for upcoming trends, it also provides brand owners and designers critical guidance for marketing and product development. However, those who are charged with manufacturing products and packaging with trending colors (like 2021's Ultimate Gray and Illuminating) know it doesn’t “just happen.” It takes time and effort to incorporate new colors. Whether you work in paints, plasti...