X-Rite Color Blog

2020 forced manufacturers to rethink the way they work. Around the globe, COVID put a hard stop on the travel required to approve prototypes and delayed the shipment of physical samples. Many brands started looking for ways to use digital color samples to keep production moving but struggled with the inability to replicate how a color sample would look on a prototype.   The PANTORA desktop application closes this gap. With PANTORA, users can capture or import spectral samples and store, man...

ICC color management means having a workflow that is predictable, consistent, and repeatable from capture through proofing to final output. To achieve a color managed workflow, you need to calibrate your devices and create an ICC profile for every component, including the camera, monitor, projector, scanner, and printer.   Why Calibrate and Profile? For the best color results, you need to calibrate each device that is contributing to your workflow to ensure it is accurately reproducing colo...

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 t...

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...

Black Friday. Not only is it the much anticipated start to holiday shopping, it’s also a day manufacturers have been preparing for all year long. Whether mass-producing holiday cards, candy canes, plastic toys, or festive clothing, accurate color is a must. Manufacturers can’t ship two of the same toy if they won’t match on the showroom floor, and holiday sweaters that are a shade off will end up at a discount store instead of a fashion boutique. Perfection is especially import...

The best way to visualize how color will react in real world lighting conditions is to use a 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 lights hav...

Recently we had the opportunity to sit down with Laura Guido-Clark, a consumer products designer of color, material, and texture. She has been dubbed an “Experience Consultant,” which reflects her interest and study of human reactions to the look and feel of new products.   Photo by Laura Flippen. We asked Guido-Clark to speak with us because we also appreciate the importance of color in our lives.   Q. What inspired you to pursue a career in color? A. When I wa...

To establish a successful quality control program, you need good instrumentation, robust software, and trained users. But even with everything in place, there are some common pitfalls to watch for when using a spectrophotometer to analyze color quality. Measuring plastic parts with the X-Rite Ci7800 benchtop spectrophotometer. Top Five Color Measurement Pitfalls  1. Bad Standards and Samples Physical standards and samples don’t last forever. Careless handling and dirty devices can ...

Whether you’re producing textiles, automotive parts, or plastic pieces, color needs to remain consistent or the final product will be rejected. Unfortunately, there are many ways for color errors to creep in during manufacturing. Creating and using accurate digital color standards is one way to combat these errors. Digital color standards can be used in software to specify and communicate color, formulate colorants and raw materials, and control color quality. They give brand owners peac...

Whether you work with plastics, coatings or textiles, you must consistently achieve in-tolerance color or your product could be rejected before it even makes it to the shelf or showroom.     This is especially true for brands that rely on off-site suppliers and manufacturers for raw materials and parts that come together at assembly, such as the plastic dashboard, fabric seats, and coated interior panels of a car. Even if each site produces in-tolerance color, it must be monitored an...