X-Rite Color Blog

5 Steps to Digitize Your Press Room and Defend Your Margins Margins in print are under pressure. Rising substrate costs, labor shortages, and energy volatility are squeezing profitability. At the same time, compliance audits—ISO, G7, internal reviews—are becoming more frequent and more demanding. Digitizing your press room isn’t just about passing audits. It’s about building a lean, smart operation that protects your bottom line. Here are five steps to get there: Step 1...

Sustainability in Manufacturing Is No Longer Optional From brand mandates to government regulations, sustainability is now a core requirement in print and packaging. But for many print teams, the path to greener operations feels like a trade-off: reduce waste or maintain quality—not both. The good news? You don’t have to choose. The Hidden Waste in Traditional Workflows Manual color control and fragmented workflows create more waste than you think: Reprints due to color mi...

For print and packaging, color accuracy isn’t optional—it’s essential. Yet many teams still rely on manual color control methods that introduce variability, slow down production, and quietly erode margins. If your workflow feels more reactive than repeatable, it may be time to modernize. Here are the 10 signs to watch for: Your color targets live in email threads Operators waste time searching or guessing—costing setup time and risking errors. Operators rely...

The Hidden Cost of Color Inconsistency on Packaging Color inconsistency in print and packaging isn’t just a visual issue—it’s a margin killer. Decentralized workflows, manual setups, and tribal knowledge create inefficiencies that quietly erode profitability. From wasted substrate to delayed approvals, the hidden costs add up fast. The Operational Fallout of Color Inconsistency Longer setup times as teams hunt for historical data Inconsistent output across p...

White ink is one of the most expensive and widely used inks in packaging production—but it’s often under-optimized. In this blog, we’ll explore how MeasureColor enables printers to maximize white ink opacity, reduce waste, and boost overall print performance.  Why White Ink Matters White ink acts as the foundation layer when printing on transparent, metallic, or colored substrates. It ensures brand colors are vibrant and consistent. But due to its high-volume use and cost...

This is the third blog in our MeasureColor in Action blog series, which introduces key features to help you achieve smarter, more efficient print production. MeasureColor: Optimize Dot Gain for Better Print Quality Achieving consistent print quality hinges on your ability to control dot gain—a critical but often overlooked variable. Dot gain plays a major role in color accuracy, image sharpness, and overall visual impact, especially in packaging and extended gamut workflows. With MeasureC...

This is the second blog in our MeasureColor in Action blog series, which introduces key features to help you achieve smarter, more efficient print production. MeasureColor: Manage Digital Color Targets with Confidence In today’s complex and fast-moving print environments, managing digital color targets and ICC profiles efficiently is essential for delivering consistent, high-quality results. Without a structured system, it's easy to lose control over your color libraries—leading to ...

This is the first blog in our MeasureColor in Action blog series, which introduces key features to help you achieve smarter, more efficient print production. MeasureColor: A User-Friendly Interface for Faster Print Decisions In today’s print industry, finding skilled press operators is more challenging than ever. At the same time, production environments are becoming increasingly complex—often combining multiple printing techniques and a wide range of press makes and models. That&rs...

What’s the Difference Between a Light Booth and a Lighting Box? When it comes to achieving consistent lighting for color evaluation, photography, or product display, two tools often come up: light booths and lighting boxes. While they may sound similar, they serve different purposes and are designed for distinct use cases. In this post, we’ll break down the key differences between the two and help you decide which one is right for your needs. What Is a Light Booth? A light booth&mdas...

The Competitive Edge in Color and Appearance: Why Global Brands Trust Us In today’s fast-paced, quality-driven industries, precision in color measurement is essential—but it’s only the beginning. True leadership in the color space comes from a commitment to innovation, global Iservice, and a holistic approach that transforms color into a strategic advantage. Decades of Expertise, Proven Results With over 60 years of experience in the color industry, we’ve helped define t...

Color Matching Machines for Retail Paint Solutions In the world of retail paint, precision in color matching is crucial. Having the right tools to ensure accurate color matching can make all the difference. Enter the color matching machine—a revolutionary tool that ensures your paint colors are consistent, vibrant, and true to your customer's vision. What is a Color Matching Machine? A color matching machine is a device designed to measure and match colors with high precision. These mach...

Why Traditional QC Processes No Longer Cut It for Global Brands In the world of textile manufacturing, quality control (QC) is more than a checkpoint—it’s a brand promise. For suppliers working with global leaders like adidas and H&M, the stakes are high. Any inconsistency in color or finish can lead to costly rework, rejected shipments, or worse—lost business from the brand. If your QC process still relies on visual assessments, manual logs, or physical standards, you m...

Five Important Components of a Quality Control Program Step 1: Quantify Color with a Spectrophotometer Human vision is subjective—terms like “a bit brighter” or “slightly darker” are open to interpretation. That’s why spectrophotometers are essential. These instruments measure color by analyzing how light transfers through or reflects off a surface, producing a spectral reflectance curve—essentially a color’s unique fingerprint. This data-driven ...

When your reputation relies on your print quality, accurate, repeatable color control isn’t optional— it’s a necessity. The combination of the eXact 2 Portable Spectrophotometer and MeasureColor Software delivers a robust, integrated solution that empowers print and packaging professionals to achieve precise, repeatable color across jobs, substrates, and devices. eXact 2: Precision Hardware for Next-Level Color Control The eXact 2 is X-Rite’s latest handhe...

X-Rite Video Gallery- Your Ultimate Resource for Color Education Welcome to the X-Rite Video Gallery Whether you're a novice or an experienced professional, the X-Rite Video Gallery offers in-depth color education and practical training to enhance your color management skills. Our carefully curated collection of videos provides valuable insights and expert tips designed to help you master color accuracy and optimize your workflow. In this blog, we'll highlight five must-watch videos that sho...

  Ensuring color consistency is not just a matter of aesthetics; it's a critical component of brand identity and consumer trust. Imagine a world where Coca-Cola's iconic red varies from can-to-can, or where the blue labels of Alcon eye drops don’t match on the shelf. Such inconsistencies can confuse customers and dilute brand recognition. For big brands, maintaining brand color consistency across all platforms and materials is paramount. This guide will introduce the essential s...

Maintaining color consistency across global supply chains is one of the biggest challenges facing brands and packaging printers today. Whether you're producing folding cartons, flexible packaging, or labels, color variation can happen at any stage — from design to final production. But why does this happen, and more importantly, how can you fix it? Where Does Color Go Wrong? At the start of every print project, color expectations are set. Unfortunately, this is often where problems begin. ...

Ensuring color consistency in commercial printing and packaging is critical for maintaining brand integrity and meeting customer expectations. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by leveraging quality control software that utilizes precise color tolerancing methods. In this blog, we will explore different tolerancing techniques and how QC software enhances accuracy in color control. The Challenge of Visual Color Assessment Many assume that visual inspection alone is sufficient for...

In the fast-paced world of print and packaging, achieving precise color accuracy is a critical challenge. Whether you're matching brand colors, controlling ink density, or ensuring quality consistency, selecting the right color measurement instrument can make all the difference. Understanding Color Measurement Instruments Selecting the right instrument for your print operation depends on factors such as production environment, measurement requirements, and industry standards. There are several ...

When it comes to achieving precise and consistent color measurement, investing in a high-quality spectrophotometer is essential. Spectrophotometers are critical to color quality because they provide repeatable and reliable data that ensure products meet strict color standards. Whether you're in the business of manufacturing durable goods, apparel, cosmetics, or building materials, the right spectrophotometer can make all the difference by detecting even the slightest variations in color. These ...

Color is a powerful tool in print and packaging, influencing consumer decisions and defining brand identity. Whether you’re designing luxury goods or everyday products, accurate color ensures your materials stand out while maintaining brand consistency. However, achieving accurate color can be challenging, especially for those who rely solely on visual evaluation. Let’s explore how controlled lighting improves color perception and why it’s essential for effective visual color ...

The Need for Industry Standards for Visual Color Evaluation in Retail LED Lighting In the retail industry, lighting is a critical factor that influences how products are perceived by customers. However, the lack of standardized LED lighting poses significant challenges that can impact both retailers and consumers. Inconsistent Color Reproduction One of the primary issues with the absence of standardized LED lighting is inconsistent color reproduction. Different LED lights can produce varying co...

Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2025: PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse, is a warm, inviting brown that evokes thoughts of chocolate mousse and rich lattes. With its subtle elegance and versatility, Mocha Mousse promises to influence design trends, especially in the textile industry, offering a versatile and sophisticated foundation for fabric designs and textile products. This earthy, warm color is the perfect balance of timeless elegance and contemporary appeal, making it ideal for manufactu...

The unveiling of Pantone’s Color of the Year is always an exciting moment across industries, and for 2025, PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse has taken center stage. This rich, warm brown evokes comfort, reliability, and sophistication, making it a perfect choice for consumer-packaged goods (CPG) brands aiming to establish a strong shelf presence. However, managing the consistency of such a nuanced color across diverse packaging materials and suppliers is no small feat. That’s where a Pri...

In the world of consumer packaged goods (CPG), color plays a crucial role in attracting customers and conveying brand identity. Whether it's the vibrant red of a soda can or the calming blue of a skincare product, color consistency is key to maintaining brand recognition and trust.  In this blog, we'll explore the significance of color in packaging design and how X-Rite Pantone can help brands achieve excellent color consistency in packaging design and execution.  Why Color Consiste...

5 Things That Could Go Wrong Without an Automotive Spectrophotometer An automotive spectrophotometer is a critical tool in the automotive industry, especially when it comes to automotive color control. These advanced devices ensure that paint colors are precisely matched, consistently applied, and meet the required standards for automotive finishes. Without an automotive spectrophotometer, several issues can arise that impact the quality, efficiency, and overall satisfaction of vehicle paint jo...

The Future of Color Consistency: LED Lighting Solutions for Industry Standards For years, fluorescent bulbs have been a mainstay in industries requiring accurate color assessment, but their downsides are becoming increasingly hard to ignore. These lights require warm-up time and may distort color accuracy, both of which lead to production delays and translate into higher sample costs.  More importantly, fluorescent bulbs contain hazardous materials like mercury, complicating their disposal...

Brands may not have a line item in their budget for color, but it can impact the bottom line in different ways. Understanding the true cost of color can help accelerate go-to-market, reduce waste, and save thousands. Color plays a big role in purchase decisions when you consider it only takes shoppers 2 to 7 seconds to select an item from the shelf. To stand out, brands must introduce interesting designs to launch new varieties and seasonal specials, while considering the impact new packaging wi...

Originally published May 3, 2024 from https://canmaker.com/light-touch/ Industry stakeholders came together to explore ink and proofing standards for two-piece beverage cans. Nisa Ali reports from Manchester Leading companies across canmaking industry supply chains are considering general guidance for PantoneLIVE colours in the production of two-piece beverage cans. Following a series of seminars discussing the role of PantoneLIVE colour libraries in the design, proofing and printing process ...

Why Backward Compatibility in Spectrophotometers Is Key to Consistent Color If you’re here, chances are you rely on a benchtop spectrophotometer to keep your color quality on point. From textiles and plastics to paint, coatings, and more, these high-precision instruments are critical to maintain consistency in your processes. At X-Rite, we engineer our spectrophotometers to perform reliably for years, even in the toughest environments. But no instrument lasts forever, and eventually, an ...

X-Rite Pantone is excited to exhibit at Fakuma. Like many of you, digitization and sustainability are top of mind. We invite you to stop by our booth to see how an end-to-end lifecycle that focuses on color can help you: Fulfill your customers’ color demands Ensure color consistency with varying batches of recycled raw material Accelerate material color and appearance approval Minimize color surprises at delivery Actively decrease your global footprint The Key t...

Autura Ink: The Future of Cloud-Native Ink Formulation and Quality Control X-Rite’s latest innovation, Autura Ink, a cloud-native ink formulation and quality control solution, recently won the prestigious PRINTING United Alliance Pinnacle Award in the color management and quality control category. This award recognizes innovative new products that significantly enhance the printing industry through exceptional quality, capability, and productivity. We sat down with Ming-Pong Liu, Software...

Brands invest a great deal of time and resources when selecting a new color to represent their products. If the color doesn't match expectations after printing, runs are wasted, and everyone is left wondering where the color went wrong. Here's a typical scenario. A brand selects a season color for product packaging and communicates that color to the designer. The designer integrates the color into the design and hands it off to the premedia team to convert it into print-ready files. The files a...

Originally published May 3, 2024 from https://canmaker.com/light-touch/ Industry stakeholders came together to explore ink and proofing standards for two-piece beverage cans. Nisa Ali reports from Manchester Leading companies across canmaking industry supply chains are considering general guidance for PantoneLIVE colours in the production of two-piece beverage cans. Following a series of seminars discussing the role of PantoneLIVE colour libraries in the design, proofing and printing process ...

Accelerate ROI, digital transformation, and sustainability with a digital textile color program. Hiccups in getting to market can be devasting for any type of business. For fashion, soft goods, apparel, and footwear brands, a major concern is missing out on the opportunity to increase sales and establish or reinforce brand credibility. Brands simply can’t afford any unnecessary slowdowns during the execution of a design due to delays in preliminary steps such as the color approval process....

Looking for a centralized location to manage your X-Rite products and services? Check out My X-Rite. Whether you need product information or support, service details, or access to learning resources, our free online portal is just a few clicks away. 24/7 Access: Easily access your personal dashboard from your computer or mobile device around the clock. Personalized Dashboard: See what matters most to you in one convenient location. Effortless Service & Support: Submit and track...

In the sign and display graphics business, as in many other segments of the printing industry, shorter runs and reduced cycle times can stress even the most efficient wide format printing operations. By implementing a color-managed RIP-to-roll (or RIP-to-rigid media) workflow, these operations can ensure that color is right the first time and every time to help speed work through the shop and meet color expectations. Photo by Peter Saunders Today we are share tips from our Color Experts that c...

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 internet is full of Top 10 Countdowns. We enjoy looking back at our most popular blogs and learning resources to better understand what interests you – our readers. We’ve been publishing our top-read learning resources since 2016, and we’re happy to see some educational topics like color perception, tolerancing, and spectrophotometers continue to rank year after year. Here’s a list of the topics our readers enjoyed most in 2023. Have you read them all? Top 5 X-Ri...

When it comes to color accuracy in the world of print and packaging, having the right tools at your disposal is crucial. We understand how overwhelming it can be to choose from a plethora of options. Fear not, for we’ve simplified your decision-making process. Here’s our list of top color match devices, each catering to different needs:   eXact™ 2 Handheld Spectrophotometer for Paper, Corrugated & Carton Boards Ideal for professionals working with paper, corr...

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the colorful world of spectrophotometers? Don't worry, we've got your back! We've put together a quick list of the unique features of four of our color match devices to help you find your perfect match. Let's dive right in! Ci7860: The Precision Prodigy The Ci7800 is your go-to if you're all about precision. With its cutting-edge technology, this benchtop spectrophotometer guarantees spot-on color matches. If you're into perfection, this one's for you....

Starbucks has once again kicked off the holiday season with four new festive cup designs. This year they surprised us with a magenta accent, which “lifts the traditional holiday colors and makes the red even look brighter,” said Kristy Cameron, Starbucks’ creative director. In the frenzy of holiday shopping, packaging plays a crucial role in catching the eye of potential buyers. However, staying ahead of the game and adapting packaging designs to align with ever-changing con...

Enhancing Automotive Aesthetics with Automotive Color Match In today's fast-paced automotive industry where innovation is the driving force, the demand for precision and perfection has never been higher. Automotive designers and manufacturers are constantly seeking ways to enhance vehicle aesthetics, while parts manufacturers and refinishers strive to match color and appearance between parts and across sites. The Significance of Automotive Color Matching The right automotive paint color not onl...

Working in prepress holds a unique challenge. Even if your color workflow is tight, everything can fall apart if the customer’s file isn’t color managed. We’ve all seen it. You receive a file that the customer claims is ready to print, yet when you open it on your computer, the colors don’t look right at all. You can’t send it to print without knowing for sure, because you’re the one who will take the hit for wasted time and materials if it’s wrong....

Perfetti Van Melle (PVM) is a multi-national manufacturer of confectionery and gum. They offer innovative local flavors for numerous renowned international brands and distribute them to 150 countries worldwide. Since their final packaging includes a mix of materials including labels, foil, paper, paperboard, and shrink sleeves, each of their global printers must achieve accurate color on every substrate to portray a unified brand presence on the shelf… which is not an easy task. PVM sele...

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...

When someone says “apple,” do you think red, green, or yellow? What do you do if a customer asks you to produce a color using descriptions that are not specific enough? Check out how something as seemingly simple as color communication can determine whether your color program succeeds or fails. A picture may paint a thousand words, but words alone do not paint a thousand colors. Circular conversations about color happen everyday. They generally start with someone asking for a sligh...