Color Communicates
The colors you choose are important to your brand. Color communicates to the recipient of your custom box. Mood, meaning and other mental associations are some of the heavy lifting color does. That’s why we offer a spectrum of colors on our website that work best with our print technology. Many factors affect the final print. So, let’s dig in to the BoxUp print technology and what you’ll want to know to understand your color choices.
Color Systems
It’s helpful to know the nomenclature of colors. It helps to know who named a particular color – and how and why they named it. Color systems are an important creation. These are the color systems we will reference most often.• RGB: Colors on computer screens and monitors are expressed as “RGB” (red, green, blue). • CMYK: Printed colors are expressed as values of “CMYK” (cyan – a light blue color, magenta, yellow, black). • Pantone: Pantone is the unofficial world champion of color matching systems! You’ll often hear someone refer to a corporate color as “Pantone number X”.
RGB to CMYK:• The color on screen will NOT match the ink on paper. They are two, distinct, color systems. Additionally, a backlit monitor and a dark corrugated have different brightness and reflective properties. If these subtleties are important to you, we suggest a sample run before you place your order.
Pantone to CMYK:• Pantone is a proprietary color matching system. We are unable to print in Pantone ink. We are happy to work with you to come close to a color that resembles your Pantone color, but it will never be true Pantone color.
What Do You Need To Know About How Your Color Will Appear?
Substrate, or, in plain speak – the cardboard:• We are applying your color to corrugated paperboard. It is darker and more absorbent than other forms of paper or plastic. What this means to you is a slightly muted tone of the color you have chosen. If brightness or specific match matters to you, we recommend choosing a shade brighter than what you would like the final product to show. With coated materials (e.g. glossy brochures) the ink lays on top of the coating, making it a purer representation. BoxUp corrugated is uncoated – this means the ink/color will soak into the paper. • If shade subtleties matter to you – and you understand the limitations of CMYK printing – then, we recommend running a color test first. This product will help you do that.
UV Cure:• Our UV Cure sets the ink. It gives a slight sheen to the ink, and sets the ink very quickly. This keeps the ink from running and is what allows us to hold image quality. The catalyst in the ink that sets the color has an odor to it that dissipates with time – usually 3 – 5 days. If you prefer odor-free boxes, contact customer service and we can hold your boxes in our plant while the odor dissipates. Please allow an extra week for this process.