Custom Spot Color Naming Convention

[AcmeGV]

Does anyone has a good custom spot color naming convention that they use to identify the color target and then the ink formula that is used to achieve the color target.
I have thought about using the closet Pantone number and then identity it with an additional target to show it is a version of that Pantone color. Also thought about instead of that approach what about just assigning a serial number to each color. There are pros and cons to both approaches but would love hear if anyone has a really good system that works well.

 

[gordo]

Does anyone has a good custom spot color naming convention that they use to identify the color target and then the ink formula that is used to achieve the color target.
I have thought about using the closet Pantone number and then identity it with an additional target to show it is a version of that Pantone color. Also thought about instead of that approach what about just assigning a serial number to each color. There are pros and cons to both approaches but would love hear if anyone has a really good system that works well.

What do you mean by "the color target"?
Usually a custom color is just that - it does not refer to any other custom color library since that can cause confusion.
Serial numbers - if that's all that identifies the custom color - can be awkward because the document creator would need some kind of a reference document to translate the serial number into something meaningful.
For example: the custom ink color name: "Ipana corporate blue" is more meaningful to the user for specifying an ink than a custom ink color named "THX1138"

 

[viswanaathan_r]

Am a Packaging printer, face such custom colour requirement quite often. For every carton we make, we allot an internal code number - KSF1234 - which is a running serial number. Since the custom colour is applicable to only that particular carton (in my case), I name the custom ink as KSF1234 blue... You may adopt if this suits you.

 

[dabob]

When we have custom "match" colors we just call them "Hanks Auto Green","Julies Nail Shop Teal" that way the pressroom knows that its a special match and they need to go to the color standard file and pull the spec and that they are not going to find it in the regular ink storage . . .

 

[Simon Ivarsson]

I have created several spot-colours and it has always been for a specific customer.
So I always start with the customer name and then the colour described in words.
Just like Coca Cola do
Coke_red, Coke_dark-red etc

But P&G and Tetra Pak are using numbers to name their colours.

i guess it all depends on how many special colours you're planning to do.

 

[WI-Flexo]

We also work in packaging. What we run into is multiple customers that are all packaging say Target store products and they all need "target red". So creating custom colors for each of our customers ended up duplicating a lot of colors. So our naming convention goes: SPL 01234 Target Red = SPL(Special) 01234(color number) Target Red(descriptor). This way we can use the same special color for multiple customers. Color formulas are stored in our ink mixing system. And prepress proofs these color from our custom ink book. We currently have a couple hundred custom colors and seems to work pretty well.

 

[AcmeGV]

I am a packaging printer as well. It gets very challenging when naming be customer because essentially you could have the same color for multiple customers but have to manage several color standards and ink recipes. Does anyone do ant rationalization of a colors before you assign it a new name? Example SPL-2567-purple is 1.0 DE 2000 from color SPL-2567-purple2 so you make it a single standards. I am a flexo printer on different substrates and I am wondering what you include in your formula name for the ink recipe. Anilox, press, substrate....
Also how many color standards do you typically have at a given time? We have tens of thousands and at is why I am seeking a better way to manage or consolidate.