Color Basics Archives | insights4print.ceo

Fine art photo prints: “sRGB offers the highest quality” – No, not really…

16/08/2020 Eddy Hagen 10

I’m disappointed, frustrated. A few weeks ago, I ordered two large format prints (100 cm wide) of images from my photobook on the lockdown in Antwerp. Both had – of course – a large number […]

Deep blues, with just 4 colors? Yes, it can be done!

05/07/2020 Eddy Hagen 1

You may have read my previous article, on XCMYK and the business case: my ‘corona photobook’. Since the publication of that article, a lot has happened. And it’s an interesting story, and sometimes a sad […]

XCMYK vs CMYK: here’s your business case

26/04/2020 Eddy Hagen 8

XCMYK is a rather simple method to produce an ‘expanded’ gamut with your standard printing inks on your standard, four-color printing press. You only need FM-screening, or another non-traditional screening, and a higher ink density. Although it seems an exciting technology, I recently found that it’s tough to find a printer using it. Which is a shame: there is definitely a business case for this. […]

Designing black for food packaging (not all black is designed equal…)

27/10/2019 Eddy Hagen 0

In a previous post, I already covered the fact that not all black is designed equal. ‘Black’ can be composed in different ways when going to print. And this is becoming very relevant when designing […]

Where ICC color management can (still) go wrong: the blue to purple conversion

15/02/2019 Eddy Hagen 3

It has been an interesting week. Tuesday my newspaper had an article on the (in)famous Yves Klein Blue. But the printed color was purple… Later this week, I noticed some images with better conversions, but […]

Best Practices

Brand colors IRL: creating better brand guides, as research shows most are flawed

16/01/2019 Eddy Hagen 8

In case you wondered: I’m not the only one with a special interest for brand colors in real life. Recently I came across two research papers by Michael Abildgaard Pedersen from the Danish School of […]

Best Practices

Brand color quality in print: the chain of tool tolerances

07/11/2018 Eddy Hagen 2

Color is probably the main quality criterium when dealing with print. And lower deviations are better, leading to some people demanding, defending a delta E 2000 of 2 for brand colors. But this raises a […]

XCMYK: regular CMYK gets a boost

06/12/2017 Eddy Hagen 16

Over the last few decades, print has seen a significant increase in quality. Just go to your bookshelf and take a look at an old book with color pictures to see it with your own […]

Best Practices

Brand colors: better safe than sorry (again)

18/10/2017 Eddy Hagen 0

Your logo, your brand colors are important to you, especially when you’re a designer or a marketer. You care about how it is being reproduced, whether it is on a website, on a printed piece […]

Not all black is designed equal

03/10/2017 Eddy Hagen 0

Designers know black. Especially when it comes to fashion. When looking at print, it might be a bit more complicated and sometimes strange things can happen to black, unintentionally. Last week I got two different […]

“That color was different on MY screen!” It’s complicated, but I’ll show you why

07/03/2017 Eddy Hagen 2

With screens all around us, some people also use them for color evaluation. But that’s not always a good idea: there are multiple factors that can influence the color that is displayed. Let’s look at […]

Accurate color reproduction: the case of Michelle Obama’s colorshifting coat

21/02/2017 Eddy Hagen 0

Do you remember the first inauguration of Barack Obama as president? It seems like ages ago, but I clearly remember one detail: Michelle Obama’s coat. And more specifically: the color of her coat. When watching […]

Best Practices

Brand colors and printing in CMYK: better safe than sorry

31/01/2017 Eddy Hagen 12

When designing a brand logo, you want it to reflect the brand, its values. And you want it to reflect these values every time the brand logo is reproduced. So you think about form and […]

Color management, explained for designers and brand owners

17/01/2017 Eddy Hagen 1

In preparation of a future article, I should explain you the basic of color management. Don’t run away! The concept of ‘ICC based color management’ is not that difficult. But too many people can not […]