Packaging prepress Colour Management

5 Good Reasons to Reduce the Number of Colours for Packaging Printing

Packaging plays a central role in product presentation and brand perception among consumers. However, it's important to note that packaging printing can have a significant impact on the environment, production costs, and operational complexity for brand owners.

Reducing the number of colours in packaging printing can be motivated by several factors, often linked to economic, operational, and ecological considerations.

Why Brand Owners Aim to Minimise the Number of Colours in Their Packaging:

Brand Consistency: By limiting the number of colours, it's easier to maintain visual consistency across an entire range of packaging, from one printer to another. Moreover, managing colour gradients in four-colour printing (CMYK) is less complex than using spot colours. This can be particularly beneficial for brand owners aiming to ensure a consistent brand image across their product range.
Environmental Impact Reduction: Reducing the number of colours can contribute to more sustainable printing practices by limiting the amount of inks and chemicals required. By reducing the number of colour shades, Brand Owners simplify the production of their packaging, decreasing ink usage and associated waste.
Waste Reduction and Facilitation of Recycling: The waste reduction associated with this practice helps preserve natural resources and limit greenhouse gas emissions. Packaging designed with a limited number of colours can also be easier to recycle due to reduced ink and coating complexity.
Cost Reduction: Alongside waste reduction, reducing the number of colours helps lower production costs for packaging. Fewer colours mean fewer plates, streamlining the printing budget.
Production Optimisation: A reduced colour palette simplifies printer setup, enabling quicker startup and more efficient production due to fewer flexo plates and sleeves. This results in improved printing efficiency.

Balancing Costs, Design, and Objectives:

Nevertheless, it's important to strike a balance between cost reduction and meeting design, marketing, and branding requirements. In some cases, a broader colour palette may be preferable to maintain brand image or product information readability.

Each decision regarding the number of colours should consider factors such as:

Brand Owner objectives
Characteristics of the targeted packaging mix
Technical capacities of the printers involved

Technical Support from the Repro House Expert: the Feasibility Study

By engaging an experienced Repro House, Brand Owners can benefit from valuable technical advice to optimise their packaging designs and effectively reduce the number of colours used in packaging printing.

Here's how our team can assist:

File Adaptation: The Repro House works closely with designers and brands to optimise packaging graphic files. It adjusts colours, tones, and gradients to ensure the design remains attractive while using a minimal number of colours.
Colour Management: In some cases, using direct tones can reproduce specific colours more efficiently, reducing the need for multiple printing shades. The Repro House advises on the judicious use of direct tones to achieve the best results.
Quality Control: The Repro House is responsible for ensuring the quality control of the printed image. It ensures colours are reproduced accurately and consistently, even when using a reduced number of colours.
Technical Advice: The Repro House possesses extensive technical expertise on various printing processes and available technologies. It can advise on best practices to reduce the number of colours while maintaining printing quality.