Colour & Print Solutions by hubergroup: PANTONE 17-230

What would life be without colour!

From managing Pantone's Colour of the Year 2025, Mocha Mousse, to exploring how light, drying and environmental factors affect colour, this section will enable designers and printers to make informed decisions and improve their craft.

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Pantone Colour of the Year 2025

The series kicks off with an in-depth article on PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse, the Colour of the Year 2025. This versatile, soft brown offers exciting design possibilities, but also challenges in printing.

The use of PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse in printing packaging, labels, and similar materials can present challenges, particularly due to color shifts that can occur with different printing techniques and materials. Here are some of the potential difficulties:

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1. Colour Variations with Different Printing Methods

Different printing processes, such as offset, Flexo, or digital printing, can result in colour deviations. This is because each method has its own specific characteristics for colour reproduction. Particularly with less saturated or lighter shades like Mocha Mousse, inks may appear differently depending on the technique and ink systems used.

- It would be beneficial to establish a master Mocha Mousse colour, which can serve as a reference for consistency.

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2. Different Materials and Surfaces

Paper, cardboard, and plastics have different surface structures and absorption properties, which can influence colour representation. Matte or coated paper may absorb the ink differently than glossy or rough surfaces. Lighter brown tones in particular could vary depending on the material, leading to discrepancies between the design and the final product.

- Limiting the substrates is always helpful. Starting with the master Mocha Mousse, adjustments to the tone (dependent spot-colour) can be made and stored in databases by hubergroup.

- Colour formulations may vary in terms of durability (pigment selection). However, the master Mocha Mousse could be developed with high fastnesses to ensure suitability for applications like dispersion varnish, UV coating, foil lamination, detergents (soap), and labels (alkali-resistant).

- Hubergroup generally works with a select range of pigments to meet most initial printing colour requirements.

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3. Colour Shifts Due to Drying Processes

After printing, drying, or curing processes may cause shades to slightly change depending on drying time and temperature. Brown tones based on printing inks, can appear darker or lighter after drying than during the printing process.

- The colleagues in the Colour Service Department are very experienced and take drying and setting behaviour into account when developing colours.

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4. Colour Registration and Overprinting

For complex designs with multiple colours, inaccurate colour registration can lead to blurry or misaligned areas. This is particularly problematic when Mocha Mousse is printed in multiple layers or in combination with other colour shades.

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5. Light and Environmental Influences

Various environmental factors, such as light, temperature, and humidity, can affect the printing process and colour fidelity. Some materials are particularly sensitive to UV radiation, which can cause the Mocha Mousse tone to fade or change over time.

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6. CMYK Build vs. Spot Colour

A CMYK setup for Mocha Mousse is strongly discouraged, as it cannot adequately reproduce the colour. If necessary, the colour should be built as neutrally as possible.

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hubergroup extends its colour management system HDCC with digital print folders

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In commercial and packaging printing, colour accuracy, speed, and cost-effective production are decisive. To enable customers an even more efficient production with 100% colour accuracy, hubergroup Print Solutions is now launching digital print folders based on the technology of GMG ColorCard. Thanks to the complete integration into the company’s colour management system HDCC, hubergroup offers a fully automated digital print folder communication. At the same time, the printing ink specialist remains true to its proven benchmarks such as the reliable quality verification process and the print folder layout, which is characterised by its detailed information.

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Efficient colour management

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The already established system HDCC (“hubergroup Digital Colour Communication”) serves as the basis for hubergroup’s digital colour communication. The patented system does not only store colour and recipe data, but also takes existing data into account and prevents duplications. This avoids multiple elaborations of the same colour. Additionally, HDCC features a quality control process relying on digitally stored master colour data as well as highly stable standard paper.

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Reliable, fast, detailed

As an extension to HDCC, hubergroup integrates digital print folders which allow faster, location-independent, and therefore cost-effective processing. “Our tests showed that our digital print folders are very convincing in terms of colour accuracy, reproducibility, and lightfastness – and we can process them more efficiently than their analogue predecessor.”

‍Colour Services | Germany

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Feel free to get in touch with Thomas Polster with any questions you may have:
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­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Thomas Polster
‍Global Key Account Manager & Manager Global Business Development Brand Owner, hubergroup Deutschland GmbH

Stay tuned as we unlock the secrets of colour and print, one shade at a time. Next up: Yellow -bright, bold and beautiful!

The visuals belong to Pantone's published media kit.