X-Rite's Puvaneswaran Jsu on achieving the perfect colour in packaging

The core of Puvaneswaran Jsu Jaganathan's talk revolved around the impact of packaging design. He likened supermarket shelves to a canvas, with brands acting as painters aiming to create attractive packaging. He emphasised, "Consumers equate that brand colour to your brand equity,” citing the ingrained memory of fast-food chains like McDonald's.

The ability of colour to differentiate a product was vividly illustrated by Jaganathan with a blurred image of Coca-Cola and Diet Coke. Despite the blur, the audience instantly identified the red in the photograph as that of Coca-Cola and the white as the Diet Coke variant, highlighting how this colour experience is embedded in everyone's head.

Jaganathan noted that while some brands imitate established colours, a shift is occurring, pointing to Reliance Consumer Products’ Campa Cola. He said, “A 40-year-old company is branding a purple colour to their consumer experiences.”

However, achieving this consistent colour across the entire product lifecycle is fraught with difficulties. Jaganathan detailed the common plight of designers whose initial design intent – perhaps a vibrant orange and green inspired by a beach scene – fails to translate accurately to the final product.

He said, “This often leads to costly rework or, worse, acceptance of a suboptimal outcome. Even companies with solid print quality programmes struggle due to the complexity of the supply chain, resulting in varying colours across packaging over time.”

Jaganathan delved into the multifaceted reasons behind these colour matching difficulties. Communication is a key hurdle: “How are you going to communicate that orange to the designers? You have many, many shades of orange.” He also highlighted the inherent problems with physical samples. He said, “They degrade over time and can become yellowish under storage conditions.”

Perhaps the most important challenge that often eludes most printers is the role of human perception. Jaganathan said, “Different people have different colour perception, influenced by mood and even personal arguments.” Citing data, he said, “One in twelve males—that's 8% of the population—are scientifically proven to be colour blind. In contrast, for females, it's a mere 0.4-0.5% of the population,” leading him to quip, “it is proven that women are better decision-makers in colour.”

Environmental factors, such as lighting conditions, also play a significant role, necessitating standardised lighting conditions to view or approve colour.

The complex supply chain compounds these issues, with variations in substrates like kraft paper and laminate films, diverse print technologies (offset, flexo, gravure), and differing standards and cultures among suppliers. According to Jaganathan, “These factors contribute to subjective print and print approvals where a Commission on Illumination (CIE) Delta E value for a colour space may be right, but they are printing in a bluish tone or a yellowish tone.”

The true cost of inconsistent brand colour, Jaganathan argued, is not primarily monetary but temporal. He painted a picture of an ideal situation for print proof approval, taking less than an hour, but stressed that the reality involves sending proofs, requesting drawdowns, and waiting for days.

“This five-day delay can push your product launch for weeks,” he warned. “Multiple cycles of rework can extend this to a month, or more than a month. While brands may not see these as direct costs, Jaganathan estimated that the cost of USD 285 per proofing can lead to an accumulation of hidden costs. He said, “Some suppliers who still rely on primitive methods like test prints and mock-ups are spending USD 250,000 to 300,000 in hidden costs annually.”

To combat these costs, Jaganathan introduced the concept of digital standards and specifically, PantoneLive. He explained, “PantoneLive offers digitised master standards and dependent standards on a particular substrate, or with a particular print technology.”

He added, “This allows designers, using tools like Pantone Visualizer, to make an instant decision whether to go with this colour or choose a better colour and to see what it will look like on brown kraft paper, whether it's achievable or not. The integration of plugins for these digital standards into Adobe Illustrator further streamlines the process.” Jaganathan shared that one customer improved their efficiency by four times using PantoneLive.  

The seminar highlighted a critical shift in the approach to brand colour in packaging. By embracing digital standards and technologies, businesses can not only ensure brand consistency but also significantly reduce time and cost, ultimately leading to more successful product launches in a highly competitive market.