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Colour Matching: What Do You Need To Know

Colour Matching: What Do You Need To Know
24 April 2023
Colour Matching: What Do You Need To Know

Colour Matching: What Do You Need To Know?

Your brand colours are an essential and important part of your brand’s identity and recognisability. Getting your designs to be the same colour each time they are printed is crucial to creating a consistent message that your customers will recognise at a glance.

Unfortunately, printing the same design file again and again, isn’t a guarantee that you’ll get the same colour results every time. Paper type, temperature, humidity, and calibration can all change the way a colour may appear once it has been printed.

This is where colour match printing is introduced. Continue reading to learn more about colour matching digital printing and how it can be used to help to get your colours as close as possible each time you come to print.

Sunny Mountain Illustration Showing Colour Differences

Consistency Is Key: What Is Printer Colour Matching?

Printed colour matching is used to find a colour match for an already printed colour sample. To match print colours, a physical sample of the desired colour is compared to a set of near identical printed colours until the right colour is found.

This printer colour matching process can sometimes require multiple tests as the colours narrow down and the accurate colours found. Once the correct CMYK colour mix is found, the colours within the digital artwork are adjusted to match this code.

For colour matching digital printing to work, a physical sample must be provided to our printers.


If My Artwork Is Always The Same, Why Do I Need Colour Match Printing?

It’s a common question we receive here at Aura Print – “my artwork hasn’t changed since the last time it was printed, why do the colours look different this time?”

Digital printing can be temperamental, with the slightest change in conditions affecting how a colour appears once printed. Anything from the paper type used for print, to the humidity of the print room, can alter the tone of a colour produced.

A design file that was printed not only six months ago, can be printed again, and look different this time round. This is why you need to consider printer colour matching if your brands colours are important within your brand identity.

Colour Matching Process

How Can I Request Colour Matching Digital Printing For My Order?

Requesting a colour match printing for your order is pretty simple. To perform a colour match, we must have a physical copy of the colour you want replicating. All you need to do is send us a copy of your physical sample in the post, along with your order reference number, and we can take care of the rest.

We’ve created a little form for you to fill out when requesting a colour match. You can print this out and attach it to your physical sample. Then, when the post arrives, our team will know exactly what the sample is meant to be used for. We can send this sample back with your order once it is printed or keep hold of it for any future colour match tests.

Don’t have a sample to hand? This does make things a little harder to match print colours. If you’ve ordered with us in the past, there might be a chance that we still have a printed sample from your order. Let our team know your previous order number and we’ll go searching.

Without a colour sample, our team cannot perform a colour match.


Are There Other Considerations I Need To Know About Colour Match Printing?

Yes, there are plenty of things to know within the world of colour! There’s not enough space here to explain absolutely everything but here are the main things to consider.

Printed colours will look different to screen colours

The colour on your monitor will look different compared to the printed colours. Working in CMYK (and not RGB colour) will help to eliminate some of these colour discrepancies within the print.

Spot colours can produce different colour tones to digital colours

We provide both spot and digital printing here at Aura Print. Make sure you choose the right option as Pantone colours produce different tones compared to CMYK.

Every paper type is unique in how the colours appear once printed

Due to each paper’s properties, colours can appear differently depending on the paper stock they’re printed on. Keep this in mind if you decide to change the paper type you want to print on.


Match Print Colours With Aura Print

Our goal at Aura Print is to create an enjoyable print experience. This includes getting your colours to be printed exactly as you would like them. To learn more about our colour matching digital printing process, why not get in touch with a member of our team?


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