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Printing: Color Management
DEVELOPING PROTOTYPES
AND MAINTAINING COLOR CONSISTENCY
D
uring Interpack 2014, brand
owners and converters were
shown a physical example of
how their packaging can look when using
a variety of Sun Chemical ink and coating
solutions, thanks to seven prototype
packages on display at the booth.
Originally designed by Sun Branding
Solutions, a global brand lifecycle
management agency and subsidiary
of Sun Chemical, the prototypes were
brought to life with the help of Haney,
a brand packaging innovation resource
for brand design, packaging R&D,
prototyping and samples.
Dan Haney, president of Haney;
William Dickson, creative director at
Haney; and John Edwards, director of
business development at Sun Chemical,
answered questions related to the
prototypes and the importance of color
management in the process.
Q:
Why is a project like this
– where two companies
like Sun Chemical and Haney
work together – so important?
Haney: It is important for us to
collaborate with companies like Sun
Chemical. Brand owners expect us to
work together to provide exactly what
they are looking for. We can turn to Sun
Chemical for feedback on how to address
a brand owner’s concern
about sustainability, color
Dan Haney
William Dickson
consistency or other issues they may be
facing. We have a wonderful partnership
with Sun Chemical.
Edwards: We are fortunate to have a
relationship with Haney and feel like we
have brand owners’ best interest in mind
when we work together. In this situation,
we needed a prototype that used our
products and Haney executed exactly
what we had designed, 100 percent.
Q:
What are some
packaging trends
you are seeing?
Dickson: Packaging is an increasingly
important part of the marketing mix.
Thanks to digital video recorders and
other technologies, it is now harder
than ever to reach the desired audience
with a specific media tool, but the target
audience will certainly see and interact
with a brand’s package. This means
that brand owners are now relying
more on packaging to communicate
the brand experience
than ever before.
The prototype packages designed by Sun Branding Solutions/Sun Chemical that were
brought to life with the help of Haney and on display at Interpack 2014 in Germany.
John Edwards
Edwards: We’re also seeing an obvious
trend toward sustainability, recycling and
the lightweighting of packaging, while at
the same time maximizing the decorative
techniques on the package for increased
visual interest.
Q:
Explain how color
management is an
important part of the package.
Edwards: Maintaining brand color on
packaging is critically important. In fact,
color is a primary reason for buying a
product. We conducted an experiment
a few years ago where we intentionally
printed soup-can labels that were pink
instead of the brand’s normal red color.
The pink cans were stocked on the shelves
with the normal red cans. What we found
is that the red cans were restocked over
and over again, while the pink cans were
left alone. Brand color consistency matters.
Dickson: Color has true emotional
implications across product types
and cultures. It affects consumers
significantly at the point of purchase
and beyond. Designers can’t afford to
guess when it comes to color usage and
performance. Color is the first or second
most important tool in a designer’s visual
toolbox. Designers strive to employ
colors that will accurately represent
the brand’s attributes on shelf and at
home. Based on the traditional method
of designing in an RGB (red, green
and blue colors) environment, that can
Printing: Color Management
be difficult, because monitors don’t
inherently represent color the same
way as printing. Now we’re seeing
some exciting things in the industry
with PantoneLIVE, which allows us
to determine in the design phase what
a color will look like when printed on
various substrates in real time.
Q:
How can color
management
seamlessly be integrated
into the creative community?
Dickson: There are specific packaging
design tools like PantoneLIVE and
others from Esko that help make the
color management process from design
to the shelf operate in a seamless way.
PantoneLIVE, for example, helps
from an ink and substrate standpoint.
Designers that use Adobe Illustrator can
work in that program for 8-10 hours a
day without working with ‘real color.’ It
is outside of the printing color gamut.
Brands that use a system in place with
the right tools in front of you, will have a
distinct advantage.
Haney: Color management is critical to
consumer communication, but it’s just
as important for colors to be accurately
set and managed for internal alignment
with brand owners. We have clients that
depend on accurate or “true to life”
representations of packaging concepts
This article was supplied by Sun Chemical Corp. To learn more about how
Haney developed the prototypes for Sun Chemical, call 513.561.1441, email
haney.de@haneyprc.com or visit www.haneyprc.com. To learn more about
Sun Chemical’s solutions used on the prototypes, call 708.236.3798, email
naimarketing@sunchemical.com or visit www.sunchemical.com/concept2consumer.
Reprinted
with permission from
Flexi b le Packag i ng,
j u ly
2014 © 2014
to make informed decisions that have
true pre-consumer cost implications.
Color-correct prototypes are a
huge part of the design-to-printing
evaluation that clients demand in order
to make informed decisions.
Edwards: The keys to success in color
management are what I call the “Four
P’s” – people, process, production and
profits. We have to be surrounded by
good people who can deliver results. We
then have to empower them with the
tools that they need, like PantoneLIVE.
Giving them a tool like this helps our
people to ask whether this creative
packaging design will work or not. And
if this option won’t work, what is a viable
alternative solution? People are the key
to success. You give them the tools they
need to succeed and it will increase
production and lead to profitability. FP
Sun Chemical Corp.
(866) 786-2318; www.sunchemical.com
BNP M e d i a C o . , II , LLC