Questions, answered clearly

Subscription to Spot-Nordic is for sure the recommended way to go for companies and brands that want a firm grip on their brand colours for all media, since the subscription includes the colour services and technical assistance by Spot-Nordic, including communications with both designers, printers and manufacturers of SMS colours.

However, brand owners can simply buy a copy of the SMS colour palette they want to use in P20 format (either the P20, P20e or P20x palette) and renew it every 12 months to have access to SMS services for non-subscribers and a license to use SMS colours for their official brand identity.

Further information is available at www.spotmatchingsystem.com/services, including information on how to convert SMS colours correctly from web to print.

The Spot Matching System is not based on sRGB. It is a collection of named standard colours that can be reproduced in CMYK to international standards on coated and uncoated paper for identical side-by-side comparison.

This is completely unique. Competitive colour matching systems have it in common that their colours shift depending on the substrate they are printed on.

The fact that SMS colours also fit within the sRGB colourspace is an amazing byproduct. It enables us to display the actual SMS colours online, meaning what you see is what you get on standard sRGB displays.

For designers needing more vibrant colours, wider colourspaces such as SMS MAX, Pantone, HKS, RAL, Avery or NCS may be more appropriate depending on the application.

However, for professional brand design and multi-channel advertising, uniform reproduction to international standards such as sRGB for displays and ISO 12647 for CMYK printing is a key element.

The default lighting for SMS colours is daylight D50 with a similar amount of UV as normal daylight. This is why SMS uses measurement condition M1, based on ISO 12647-2-2013.

This ensures that printed colours look correct when viewed in normal daylight, accounting for optical brighteners in paper.

It is possible to create custom SMS colours optimised for non-daylight conditions (e.g. retail or exhibition lighting) by measuring the exact lighting environment.

The recommended approach is always to normalize lighting to D50, as products will eventually be evaluated in daylight.

SMS sRGB colours are only correct on calibrated sRGB or Rec.709 displays. If displays are uncalibrated or adjusted for visual preference, colours will change.

The best brand owners can do is calibrate their own displays and insist on calibration for public digital advertising.

Even on uncalibrated displays, SMS colours typically remain closer to their intended appearance than colours from other palettes when compared to print.

Regular calibration is recommended every one to two weeks. Display calibration tools are available even for smartphones.

No. You cannot use one generic CMYK profile globally and expect identical results.

SMS colours should be kept in sRGB format. For printing, they can be converted to Fogra standards (Europe), G7 standards (USA), and Japan Color 2011 standards.

This ensures identical visual results across regions.

Absolutely not. You continue using your existing CMYK inks.

To print SMS colours, your print process must conform to ISO standards such as Fogra or G7. If you already print to standards, no changes are required.

If not, Spot-Nordic can build custom output ICC profiles for both offset and digital presses to ensure correct results.

The SMS palette includes primary, secondary, and tertiary colours that are reproducible in CMYK on both coated and uncoated paper and fit within sRGB.

New standard colours are continuously added. Custom SMS colours can also be created on request.

SMS colours are natural shades, meaning extremely dark or ultra-vibrant colours may fall outside SMS criteria.

No. To avoid mistakes, one SMS palette should be used per subscription.

Each brand or campaign should stick to one palette. Separate subscriptions are recommended for different palettes.