12/28/2023 0 Comments Ink drawdown![]() As printers work with new brand customers and new partners who use the same colors, they often make additional copies of the final color-matched drawdowns. To meet the brand’s expectations and demonstrate compliance, printers will typically provide the ink drawdown for each brand color on the substrate that has been selected for the job. Then, the recipe is kept on file to make more ink and perform additional drawdowns as necessary. The entire color matching process is done once, when the printer needs to match a color for a specific print condition. A drawdown is a small amount of ink, applied to the expected packaging substrate, that shows what the production spot color will look like. ![]() ![]() It’s a “real ink on real paper” test to proof the result.ĭuring the color matching process, “drawdowns” are used to test colors and finally arrive at the color match. The end result of the final color recipe is the color match: a physical sample that looks as close to the target as possible that can be printed accurately during print production. “For the printer, a physical visualization of a digital color reference is an indispensable tool for setting expectations in advance and managing print during production.” Users iterate the process until the color match is acceptable, or they are unable to further improve the match. If the measured result is not close enough, the ink formulation software will use the additional measured data to update the recipe. Typically, ink formulation software calculates an initial recipe, which is used to make a small sample of ink, which is applied to the production substrate and measured. This software is then used to build a recipe that produces the correct color on the correct substrate. It knows the spectral color properties of each material or colorant, and what will happen when materials are combined. Ink formulation software contains libraries of color materials. This process not only requires specialized user knowledge of color, but also requires use of specialized ink formulation software. This process typically requires expertise in color matching, knowledge of different substrate types, understanding of color and tone, and understanding fit-for-use criteria such as food safety, fade resistance, adhesion and more. ![]() To perform a color match, base colorants are mixed together in different portions to achieve the minimum color difference from the target brand color. To ensure the same visual appearance, or a very close spectral match of a brand color on different materials, a printer or ink company will perform a color match.Ĭolor matches are typically done for each different printing material, on each different printing process, in a special room called an “ink kitchen” with special equipment. Different substrates will typically have a different surface color as well as different printability. Digital color cards accurately illustrate the visual color and quality of a real ink on a real substrate-in about three minutes.Ī brand’s colors may appear in a variety of designs, on a wide variety of different substrates. If they are going to invest in an important packaging project, they want to be assured that a printer-and the press-are up to the challenge. Brands need to know how well a package printer can match their colors on press.
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