How to make sure the colours are accurate

Colour accuracy is not always easy, there are a lot of factors which can affect the colours. This guide will help you get the perfect colour.

This guide applies to you if:

It always starts with your monitor. It doesn’t matter how perfect your colour settings are, if the representation on your screen is off. To make the colours match accurately, it’s essential to create a profile for your monitor. You’ll need a profiling device for this. We’ve had good experiences with the Spyder from Datacolor (we’re not sponsored), but there are many other devices available that can achieve the same result.

Cheap monitors often have low colour accuracy. While you can spend a lot of money to get perfect colour representation, there are solid options for smaller budgets too. We’ve tested both high-end and affordable monitors and achieved impressive results with some of our cheaper IPS models. You don’t always need the most expensive gear.

There are plenty of online guides that highlight the best monitors for colour accuracy. We won’t recommend a specific display, as the market changes quickly and this article would need constant updates.

Make sure there is no direct sunlight in your screen as this can affect the colours. Also a bright sunny day results in different colours then a cloudy gray sky. Keep this in mind when creating your design.

When your screen is correctly profiled, it’s time to start designing. Create a new Photoshop file and select AdobeRGB as the colour space. Avoid using the default sRGB, as it has a smaller colour gamut and can represent fewer colours.

You want to make sure that if you place a file in your document, it’s converted to the right colour space. This is a setting in Photoshop.

1. Navigate to Edit > Colour settings
2. Select AdobeRGB as your default RGB colour space
3. At Color Management Policies select Convert to Working RGB
4. Check all the check boxes for mismatches

Photoshop will now ask you to convert the color when you’re pasting or placing an image.

When you’re ready making your design, save the design as PNG and make sure to select:

• Compression: None / fast
• Interlacing: None

You are now ready to place your order!