How We Calibrate Our Printed Colors

We use a commercial-grade color spectrophotometer scanning tool to eliminate as many variables in the calibration process as possible. This allows us to take the human factor and guess-work out of the equation, optimizing initial calibration and color replication on future prints, thus saving time and materials on every order. It also allows us to create and share a standardized “level of confidence” in how close our printed colors are to the paints we’re trying to match them to, better helping our customers purchase a vinyl wrap that they will be happy with for many years.

A Note on Lighting: We scan and calibrate our printed colors under D50 lighting (“mid-day” light, or 5000k light temperature). We chose this as it’s the most standardized lighting temperature for color work, and it’s the most middle-of-the-road lighting setting we could use to try to cover the wide lighting temperature used in home lighting. If you receive one of our color samples and it appears very far off from the paint you’re comparing it to, the most likely culprit is the lighting in your home - this is the biggest factor in why we recommend ordering samples first.

Color Breakdown

Lighting and color appearance, and how one effects the other is a very complex subject. Simply put however, it is the scientific breakdown of a color into key elements - how light it is, how saturated it is, how warm or cool-toned it is, etc. These aspects of a color can also shift in appearance depending on a couple other factors such as the color temperature of the lighting it is viewed under (measured in Kelvins), and the viewing angle. All of these variables are given numeric values, and then can be used for color replication/comparison.

When comparing two colors (e.g. a paint swatch and a printed patch of ink), the lighting/scanning variables are standardized, and just the aspects of the color itself are compared. The most widely-used and standardized color comparison system used in color replication across multiple industries is CIE ΔE2000. This is the system we use to compare our printed colors to paint. In this system, each aspect (lightness, saturation, etc.) is compared, and given a numeric value representing degrees of variance. This is done for multiple values, and then all averaged together to boil down to a single number value - the ΔE value, or “delta E”.

“Level of Confidence” - What Delta E Values Mean

Delta E tells us at a quick glance how apparent the difference between two colors will appear to the human eye. A value of 0 would mean an identical match.

  • âś… Δ E ≤ 1.0: VERY close match - most likely only noticeable if one color is laid directly on top of/is surrounded by the other, otherwise they will appear essentially identical to the human eye. Colors that we get under a value of 1 will match better at wider viewing angles, and under a wider range of lighting conditions.

  • ⚠️ Δ E 1.0-2.0: Okay match, but if being used on an appliance next to same-color cabinets, a difference will be noticeable. These colors are better used as contrast/accent colors.

  • 🚫Δ E > 2.0: Noticeable color error - most likely caused by our ink/vinyl being limited in hitting a target brightness or saturation. If the closest we can get with a color has a ΔE over 2, we usually reject it outright.