Understanding Color Reproduction on Flexible Materials

An Overview of Ink Dynamics

Ink dynamics is the science of packaging designers or an art director understanding how certain colors interact with flexible materials and what kind of color variations one can expect in their final package design. For example, colors on a screen will look different than when printed on the final package design -- your product packaging designer may even notice differences between the same color printed via rotogravure or flexographic printing methods.

As you can see, creative design encompasses more than a freelance designer simply understanding a brand's identity, target audience, business objectives, brand story, and business needs and coming up with a final design, new logo, effective branding, and social media posts to match. They also need to think about colors, vector graphics, and other design principles before they can come up with new branding and a winning design for their notable clients.

Whether you work with top packaging designers, graphic designers, freelance designers, or a packaging design company, they will be able to tell you what kinds of variation to expect and can help guide you through the complexities of ink dynamics and how it will impact the final custom design packaging for your consumer goods.

Factors That Can Impact the Color of Your Packaging Design

As mentioned, the colors on your physical custom packaging will differ from how the colors of your package design looks on your computer screen, as printed on other materials, in virtual renderings, or as printed by different methods or on a different printing press.

The final color on your custom packaging will be influenced by several factors, including the material of your product packaging, inks, and color shift. These variations of package designs are part of the creative process and should not come as a surprise to your creative director, web design team, or social media followers.

Screen color of your graphic designer

The color you see on your screen will be different than actual ink on film due to your brightness settings, the light level in the room, and whether you're sitting in natural or artificial light, among other factors. Top packaging design companies will almost always include a disclaimer about this somewhere on their website.

Original art

All original art is best developed by a graphic designer natively in Adobe Illustrator. Art that was adapted from Canva, EPS, SVG, Coral Draw, Photoshop, InDesign etc. may not perform as well as native Adobe Illustrator art, and you may see a more noticeable difference between the package design mock-up colors and the colors in the final product packaging.

Base material, laminations, and finishes

The choice of packaging materials for your custom packaging will affect the color of your project. Color printed on clear packaging materials will look different than colors printed on a silver metalized material, white paper, or kraft paper. Your choice of finish will also influence the final color outcome.

Ink is not 100% opaque

All ink, and importantly white ink, is not 100% opaque. Areas with white ink coverage will not fully obscure dark colored graphics or products from showing through on clear materials. Your graphic designer or design agency will take this into account as they design your packaging.

PMS

Pantone® PMS ink on paper, or as seen in a PMS color deck, will appear different than PMS ink printed on film. Pantone uses LAB to define ink formulations, specific LAB values may not be achievable when printed on film. Different substrates and print conditions using different ink formulations result in different visual results. Certain specialty PMS color decks cannot be accurately matched.

Digital printing

All digital printing is a five-color process. Digital printing cannot exactly reproduce Pantone colors, especially those that are outside of the CMYK color gamut of our press. Projects converting from digital to plate printing will not color match 100%, as there will be differences in color. Digital printing is subject to variation between printing lots. PMS color printed digitally will have color shift.

Color shift

If you have previously printed this design on another press or material there will be color variation. Projects which are color matched are still subject to color shift may occur.

Choose CarePac: Your Packaging Designer Partner

At CarePac, we care about customer satisfaction, whether you're a branding agency, a small business, a design professional, a creative agency, or an art director for a retail or consumer goods company. We use strategic thinking and an understanding of your target market to put together award winning packaging designs.

If you're looking for generic packaging, there are other packaging design companies you can work with. But if you're looking for the best packaging designers and the best packaging design ideas, you've come to the right place. Here are a few ways ways we're different from other packaging designers:

Fully customizable to match your brand identity

Every part of your product packaging is customizable, from the way it feels to how it closes and is presented on a shelf. We'll create something that matches your brand identity.

Low MOQs

If your brand strategy is to focus on seasonal products, our low MOQs mean you won't be forced to order product packaging you can't use.

Excellent customer service

Our customer service and graphic design team simply can't be beat. We'll set you up with the right packaging designer who actually listens to their client's ideas and keeps things like final cost and other key elements in mind throughout the design process.

Variety of packaging materials

Our packaging designs can work with a variety of materials, and we'll help you choose the material that works for you. There's nothing we love more than successful projects or a happy design agency!

Quick shipping

You'll receive your packaging designs in a timely manner, so you won't be hesitant to work with our design packaging team again on future projects.

We care about brand loyalty, and will do everything we can to make you a repeat customer. If you're ready to hire a packaging company, please let it be us!