Getting the colours on a printed label to match exactly what you see on screen is one of the trickiest parts of label design. Small differences are normal in all printing, and knowing why they happen makes it much easier to get a result you're happy with.

Screens and printers make colour differently

Your screen creates colour by mixing red, green and blue light (RGB). A printer builds colour from cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks (CMYK) on a white surface. Some bright screen colours, particularly vivid greens, blues and oranges, sit outside the range ink can reproduce, so the printer has to use the nearest colour it can make. On top of that, every screen is set up differently, so the same file can look brighter or warmer on one monitor than another.

Every printer and ink has its own character

We print on Epson ColorWorks D6000 printers using dye ink on white gloss film. Dye ink is absorbed into the label coating, which gives rich colour, deep blacks and much better resistance to scuffing in transit. Our D6000s are part of the same Epson ColorWorks family as the C8000s we used before. Even so, no two printers are identical, and the same printer can vary slightly from day to day. Different ink types and printers render colour slightly differently, which is why a label printed by us may not look identical to one printed by a commercial label printer, or to labels we printed on our previous printers. Greens are the colours most likely to shift in tone between processes. You can read more in Why we've upgraded our label printers, and what it means for your labels.

The label material plays a part

White gloss film reflects light strongly, so colours tend to look brighter and more saturated than on matte paper or on screen. Small variations between ink batches and in humidity can also cause very minor differences from one print run to the next.

Getting the best results

Send your artwork as a high-resolution JPG in RGB at 600 DPI, as set out in our label design guidance. Our printers are profiled to convert RGB files, so sending RGB gives the most predictable result. Solid colours and simple designs reproduce more consistently than fine gradients or very specific shades, and white or light backgrounds print more reliably than large areas of dark colour.

If colour is important to your brand, ask us for sample labels before your first order or before a large one. Seeing your actual label on the actual material is far more reliable than judging from a screen.

If you need an exact colour match

Our in-house printing is designed for flexibility, fast turnaround and very low minimums, and a perfect match to a specific shade can't always be guaranteed. If precise colour control matters more to you, you can have your labels printed by a commercial label printer, where you can approve proofs and choose finishes, and send them to us to apply. See Can I supply my own printed labels? (free issue labels).