Diametric Colour Matching: Perfecting Your Brand Identity

At Diametric, we understand that colour is a crucial element of your brand identity, and achieving harmony across your badges, labels and decorative trim is essential. Our expertise in colour matching ensures that every shade, tone, and finish is flawlessly replicated, so your branding remains strong and cohesive.

We are trusted for our colour precision across a wide range of materials and manufacturing processes—from printing and technical painting to chrome plating and anodising. We take pride in delivering impeccable results that align with your brand’s quality expectations.

Meet Jess: The Expert Behind Diametric’s Colour Matching

To give you a deeper insight into our colour-matching process, we spoke to Jessica Payne, our Manufacturing Technical Lead and in-house expert.

For nearly a decade, Jess has been crafting precision badges and labels for industries spanning luxury automotive, marine, medical, audio, and more. Her passion for colour accuracy started in our Quality Inspection team… “I became obsessed with understanding how to match colours perfectly, and driving this perfection into our manufacturing processes”.

“I absolutely love my job in print, especially colour matching,” says Jess. “It reminds me of when I was a child mixing bubble baths like potions! Knowing that I’m making a customer’s branding perfect and seeing our products shipped worldwide is so fulfilling.”

The Challenge: Matching Pantone’s 2025 Colour of the Year

© Credit Pantone

We set Jess the task of matching Pantone’s Colour of the Year, Mocha Mousse, on three different materials, using different processes:

Surface printed on a bright silver metallic substrate
Reverse printed on a matte clear polyester
Printed on a white vinyl with a Tufflex resin dome

Mocha Mousse is described by Pantone as “a warming rich brown… infused with subtle elegance and earthy refinement.” To push Jess’ skills to the limit, we asked her to colour match without using Pantone’s prescribed formula. Jess was up for the challenge:

“I love the warm hues of Mocha Mousse and how it pairs so well with silvers and golds. Greys and browns can be tricky to match, so this was a great test of my abilities.”

© Credit Pantone

The Process: Crafting the Perfect Match

Jess explains how she approached the task:

“Even a set colour like Pantone can look different depending on the lighting, material, and backing. It’s crucial to maintain the integrity of the colour no matter what factors are involved.”

For each substrate, Jess fine-tuned the colour mix:

“The Tufflex resin dome was the most challenging due to gloss levels affecting light refraction. I had to adjust the ink ratios, adding more red and yellow to compensate.”
“Using silver substrates presents its own challenges, as the ink must stand boldly on its own without any white backing. I also had to adjust for the different properties of solvent and UV inks, as UV ink is glossier and more translucent.”

The Tufflex resin dome was the most challenging…

To achieve the perfect match, Jess experimented with various print machines, pressures, squeegees, mesh sizes, and ink viscosities.

The result? A flawless Mocha Mousse match across all three substrates! Spectrometer analysis confirmed a ‘DE1’ rating—a gold standard level where any colour variation is imperceptible to the human eye! Not bad for a first try…

Colour Trends: What’s Next?

Jess has seen an exciting shift in colour trends over recent months:

“Colour matching is getting more vibrant! After years of blacks, greys, and dark blues dominating, we’re seeing a retro resurgence—more oranges, purples, and pinks. It’s an exciting change; it makes me so happy!”

Get in Touch: Let’s Perfect Your Brand

Need a perfect colour match for your next project? We’re here to help. Whether it’s for badges, labels, or decorative trim, our team is ready to deliver the precision and quality your brand requires.

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