Why your brand colour shifts on a phone, why bright designs go dull in print and why gradients go muddy in the middle, plus what to do about each one.
Screens and print
Your phone can almost certainly show your brand colour exactly, so something else is changing it. Here's how to spot the three usual causes: your phone's colour settings, a screen that stretches colour, and a file set to the wrong colour range. Plus a five-minute check and what to keep fixed.
13 min read
Screens and print
A screen makes its own light, but paper can only reflect it. About half of a standard screen's colours can't print on standard European coated paper, and about four in five can't on uncoated. Here's which colours lose the most, why blue can print purple, and why free hex-to-CMYK converters can make it worse.
15 min read
Screens and printContrast and accessibility
Reversing your colours turns a blue brand mustard, and even automatic dark modes turn yellows muddy and purples pink. A good dark mode is a lightness job first: near-black backgrounds, off-white text, and every accent re-picked lighter until it reads. Here's why blues soften and reds can stay vivid, with a recipe for Figma and Canva.
13 min read
Screens and print
A gradient between two good colours can turn grey, olive or dark in the middle. There are two separate causes, and web browsers still blend hex colours the old way. Here's which colour pairs are risky, and how to fix the middle in Canva or Figma without any code.
12 min read