X-Rite Color Blog

Last week Pantone announced the Pantone Color of the Year 2020 - Very Peri (PANTONE 17-3938). The Pantone Color of the Year announcement isn’t just important for designers. Since this color will set the stage for upcoming trends, brand owners should also take notice to capitalize on this trending color. Bring Very Peri to Market, Fast. Is Virtual Design the Answer? The fashion and apparel industry began embracing virtual design years ago. Luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Burberry, ...

2020 forced manufacturers to rethink the way they work. Around the globe, COVID put a hard stop on the travel required to approve prototypes and delayed the shipment of physical samples. Many brands started looking for ways to use digital color samples to keep production moving but struggled with the inability to replicate how a color sample would look on a prototype. The PANTORA desktop application closes this gap. With PANTORA, users can capture or import spectral samples and store, manage, vi...

Although plastics professionals have been managing color issues in the production workflow for many years, the dynamics are once again changing. From consumer electronics to automotive parts and flexible packaging, a growing number of brands are incorporating special effect finishes into their products. While metallics, pearlescents, and other complex finishes are beautiful and help brands stand out on the shelf, they also introduce new color management challenges into the manufacturing pro...

Recently we blogged about how appearance affects color. In this article we look at some of the characteristics that impact an object’s appearance, such as texture, gloss, transparency, and special effects, and explain why it’s crucial to describe appearance in the early stages of the design workflow.  While 3D programs have attempted to address appearance aspects for years, there has been a missing link in virtual product design: the ability to integrate characteristically &ldqu...

Appearance is more than simply color. It’s a comprehensive look at everything inherent to each unique material we come in contact with, including texture, gloss, transparency, and special effects. Each of these characteristics plays a part and has an effect on overall appearance and understanding in relation to a single material. Objects may have several elements that affect appearance, such as the material’s surface texture, construction, overall geometry and micro-surface. The environ...