insights4print.ceo

Strategic Insights

Beyond the P1/P2 light booth:
What color actually looks like on the shelf

07/06/2026

If you work in printing, or if you are a brand owner, print buyer, or designer who cares about the quality of print products, you probably know very well what the press control station or […]

Ink savings in offset printing: some historical context

04/06/2026

“Is this you?” That was the question I got via e-mail recently, with a link to a 2011 article in the Polish print magazine Świat DRUKU. It was a message from Jinkai Qian from Techkon, […]

Strategic Insights

Why are print buyers holding single-use print jobs to a higher standard than the reference they use?

15/05/2026

Serious question: why are print buyers holding disposable FMCG packaging to a higher standard than their reference: their copy of the Pantone color guide? Why would consumers – who are not color savvy, typically looking […]

Strategic Insights

Can I trust this Oreo?
(a print bubble story about framing, priming and no one caring enough to comment)

28/02/2026

Last week, I used LinkedIn for another experiment, seeking the wisdom of the crowd. And as it can happen, it went quite differently from what I intended, even though the setup seemed quite simple to […]

Strategic Insights

It’s proven: color differences can confuse consumers!
Well… if the colors are some 50 dE00 apart…

01/02/2026

If you are a regular reader of my blog or my LinkedIn posts, you’ll probably know I have been questioning the claim that color differences confuse consumers and negatively impact sales. And guess what: I […]

Print quality ain’t what it used to be…
(spoiler alert: it’s much better!)

13/01/2026

From time to time, I read these remarks on LinkedIn: print quality isn’t what it used to be, and people start complaining. And every time, a smile appears on my face: “Really???” So, let’s do […]

Strategic Insights

Tolerances in brand color reproduction:
one size – fits all?
Why printing needs expectation management

13/12/2025

When talking about tolerances for the reproduction of brand colors in print, you often hear just one number. Whether it’s 2, 3, or 4 dE00, it’s just one number. And we have to ask ourselves: […]

XCMYK at Midnight Oil: How government regulations can drive innovation

22/10/2025

XCMYK has a lot to offer: using the same traditional four inks, a much larger gamut can be achieved, as well as some very nice blues. Many recent digital presses support it, or they have […]

Landa Digital Printing: The flight of Icarus

10/11/2025

The verdict is in: Landa Digital Printing is sold to FIMI for 80 million US$ in a flash sale. Benny Landa, who a few years ago claimed his company was worth 2 billion US$, is […]

Strategic Insights

Probabilities and priors
How a maths theorem defines brand and product recognition

16/08/2025

While on vacation, I finished reading the book ‘Everything Is Predictable – How Bayes’ Remarkable Theorem Explains the World’ by Tom Chivers. And yes, you may question my choices of books, but I have to […]

Landa Digital Printing – a textbook example of ‘sunk cost fallacy’?

02/09/2025

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will have noticed that I’m a fan of ‘behavioral economics’. It’s a fascinating field in economics, that studies the irrational behavior of human beings. One […]

The evolution of offset printing
And why is this relevant to the troubles at Landa Digital Printing

31/08/2025

It might seem a bit strange to have an article on the evolution of offset printing. Still, it’s highly relevant at this moment: it provides some context on Landa Digital Printing gaining and its difficulties […]

Strategic Insights

We need a new metric:
the smallest actionable difference (SAD)
JND and JAD don’t cover consumer behavior in shops

14/03/2026

‘JND’, the ‘just-noticeable (color) difference’, is a core concept in color science. Next to that one, there is also ‘JAD’: the ‘just-acceptable (color) difference’. But these are not sufficient, if you ask me. That’s why […]

Strategic Insights

A lawsuit printers should keep track of: Mondelez vs Aldi

13/08/2025

Over the past few weeks, several of my LinkedIn contacts have published posts about the Mondelez vs. Aldi lawsuit. In case you missed it, Mondelez has accused Aldi of deliberately using packaging that is very […]

Strategic Insights

The biggest print quality experiment ever?
And nothing happened???

07/07/2025

Do you remember my article from last fall about the redesign of the Oreo logo, which featured a 10+ dE00 difference between the old and new versions? Both being used jointly on the shelves? Ah! […]