The domestic economy began to end at the onset of the era of technology and information. With that end came the beginning of a much more global economy that is both intertwined and inter-connected. While the shift from a domestic economy to a global one bridged the world in a whole new way, it also brought on its fair share of new obstacles. The supply chain for nearly every industry has been disrupted. Color management, for example, is one industry that faced a brand new set of challenges.
Color management is the systematic conversion of color-perception and representation across different devices. In other words, ensuring that the same shade of blue appears on the website, as does on the mobile version. Or that green retains its shade from digital to print.
Color management is a practice that yields more consistency in the way your brand represents itself to the consumer. In turn, color management drives impactful metrics like customer loyalty, customer trust, and brand perception.
1. Keeping Color Consistent in Supply Chains
Mentioned above, one of the crucial functions of color management is keeping color consistent. Not just from digital to print, but also from one screen to another, and from country to country.
Keeping colors consistent in the design process, even when it takes place remotely, or overseas is vital to maintaining the integrity of the project and sustaining a specific brand perception.
A comprehensive color management program helps companies continually check the quality of the color along the design process. These checkpoints, therefore, ensure that we maintain the original shades and contrasts from start to finish.
2. Color Management Across Mediums
Another aspect of color management regards keeping color consistent across mediums and supply chains. That could refer to any number of different devices on which one views the art, project, design, or color.
In other words, the list includes tv screens, digital cameras, computer monitors, film printers, and a wide variety of alternative devices.
The process of keeping colors consistent across these different devices is vital for all the same reasons that are listed above. From maintaining a consistent brand-image to building customer trust and reinforcing the same messaging across a variety of mediums, consistent coloring provides endless benefits to any company.
In addition to this, it’s tricky to ensure color quality across mediums when using similar color tones. As brands often employ complementary designs across their product portfolio, it’s vital to distinguish and perform quality assurance on these similar tones.
3. Challenges of 2020 and Beyond
2020 has been historic. As such new challenges arose. Challenges the economy does not normally face. These challenges arose from the world-wide pandemic and social uprisings against systematic injustice.
These challenges affected the global supply chain, and the global economy, in unforeseen ways. In turn, that has also affected companies’ ability to perform color management globally.
The overarching and long-term effects of the world-wide pandemic can’t be known for some time. However, one certainty is that the economy will be feeling the effects of COVID-19 for the foreseeable future.
Final Thoughts
No matter the industry or marketplace, there are plenty of obstacles to overcome. Each year new obstacles and new challenges may even arise. However, the wise business owner doesn’t fight against the current. Instead, they embrace the stream and utilize the flow to their advantage.
In other words, while acknowledging the existence of obstacles is crucial, what defines your business, is how you respond to and work around the challenges that you face.
In terms of color management, the global supply chain nature of the world offers many challenges. It’s difficult to create consistent color across all the various levels of your business especially if they are global in nature. That’s why it’s important to have the right processes and assistance in place. To ensure that your audience sees the right color no matter where they are.