By Stephanie Walker, head of technical, James Cropper

It’s easy to be mystified by color management. Every individual perceives color slightly differently. The human eye has roughly 126 million photoreceptor cells, creating 126 million opportunities for variance. Amongst a whole host of biological and cognitive factors, there are also environmental factors to consider. For example, surrounding lighting conditions influence how we see color.

This opens the door to fascinating quirks of color like metamerism – a phenomenon where two colors appear identical under certain wavelengths of light, but very different under another wavelength. And then there are oddities like magenta, which has become a staple of printing thanks to the CMYK color model even though it doesn’t exist as a spectral color, and is simply the result of our brains combining two different wavelengths of red and blue light.

All of this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to mastering color. How do you tame all these unpredictable, subjective elements, combining them into a single shade that perfectly matches a brand’s vision? How do you balance the interactions between pigments, dyes, and different substrates? And how do you ensure the final product looks as good under natural sunlight as it does under store lighting? It might seem like alchemy, but the truth is it’s a matter of expertise. And no one has more color expertise than James Cropper.

In living color

James Cropper’s history with color goes back to the year 1856. Since that time 170 years ago, every new color developed by James Cropper has begun its journey in the same place – the color lab at James Cropper’s Burneside mill, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

When a customer first approaches James Cropper with a color matching project, initial discussions take place to identify the customer’s needs. This centers not just on the color but on the materials used and the end application. These are critical pieces of information, as they can fundamentally change the appearance of colored pigments or dyes.

One of James Cropper’s most famous projects makes the perfect example of this point: the Royal British Legion’s paper poppies. These poppies must match distinct shades of red and green, but they also have to be resistant to color bleed. As the poppies are traditionally worn on the outside of clothing during wet British Novembers, they also have to be resistant to rain.

However, not every paper product has the same requirements. A product made to be displayed in a window does not necessarily need to be strong or water-resistant, but it does need to be lightfast to prevent fading over time. A shopping bag or a retail box, on the other hand, needs to be structurally robust and resistant to rubbing.

Each of these uses comes with its own performance requirements, and meeting these requirements can influence the color of the end product. This is because it determines whether dyes or pigments should be used – two types of colorants with very different applications.

A material difference

These differences stem from the unique chemical properties of pigments and dyes. Pigments are large, insoluble particles that are suspended in a binding solution that attaches to the surface of a material. This is as opposed to dyes, which are smaller, soluble particles that permeate into the substrate.

This key chemical difference gives both distinct benefits that make them well-suited to different applications. Pigments tend to be more lightfast, meaning they are ideal for museum-quality paper and archival materials, for example. However, as the color particles attach to the surface of the substrate, they are more likely to be pulled away by rubbing against other objects. Dyes, on the other hand, permeate fiber, meaning they are less likely to rub away, but more likely to bleed when wet.

These issues can be mitigated with a variety of different coatings and finishing techniques, each of which comes with its own effect on the color of the final product.

Factors for consideration

And, of course, all of these factors have to be considered when developing a color and weighed against the nature of the material itself. Virgin fibers straight from the tree provide a more uniform look, whereas recycled content, which is particularly popular in the print and packaging sectors today as a result of tightening environmental legislation, is much more variable. If the fiber has been dyed, coated, filled, or brightened, then this has to be accounted for during the color matching process.

To return to the poppy as an illustrative example, the paper is made using a blend of virgin fiber and recycled material sourced from coffee cups. It is colored using a blend of pigments and coated to ensure the final color does not rub away when it comes into contact with clothing. The pigments used are carefully selected to account for this coating, ensuring the final red perfectly matches the poppy’s trademark vibrant hue after the coating is applied.

While this example illustrates just some of the challenges and variables involved in color matching, in reality, virtually everything can affect the final color result, ranging from water quality to temperature to the humidity on the day of production. However, if it can be made in a single sheet in the lab, then these conditions can be recreated and scaled up for full production.

Seeing color in a new light

This speaks to perhaps the main benefit of James Cropper’s location. At a time when onshoring assets in the UK is strategically important to many companies, having a supplier with deep roots in the country is a huge advantage. It means customers and partners can visit the mill in person, experiencing the color matching process for themselves.

Visitors can see the way the fiber pulp is mixed, colored, and pressed, witnessing the profound impact different materials and lighting can have on the process. They can experience the whole journey, from pulp to colored paper.

In a process where so much is subjective, this is an invaluable benefit for James Cropper customers. Color is an everyday miracle that is easy to take for granted. Mastering color requires the management of a staggering number of variables, combined with cutting-edge technology, psychology, and ocular biology. The results of this combination are 170 years in the making, and they need to be seen to be believed.

For brands, designers, and manufacturers, this isn’t just about matching a swatch; it’s about unlocking the emotional power of color and ensuring it performs exactly as intended in the real world. Because when color matters this much, nothing less than perfection will do.