The M&M Project

Today, the toughest challenge in the printing world is to reproduce a brand accurately from press to press, in different places, on a wide variety of substrates that range from paper to cardboard to plastics.

In our most difficult challenge to date, we worked with several printers to manage the colors of a bundle of products based on the red, yellow and green candy found in a packet of M&Ms.

Design

1. We read the LAB values of each candy and noticed that the color of one M&M was not the same as the next one. We averaged the values over a dozen readings.
2. With our three colors in hand, we developed our look.
3. We first designed a small packet for the candy, including a clear window to highlight the match of the candy with our palette.
4. The same look was used for the bottle’s label, the large bag, and our brochure.

Printing

• We prepared all the files according to the GRACoL specifications and the presses were calibrated using the G7 method.
• Label Technology, Merced, California, printed the small bag of M&Ms on a clear-back PET, and the bigger one on a metallic-back PET, on a narrow web flexo press.
• The bottle’s label was printed on an Indigo WS4500 press, on a 2.6 mil White BOPP at Custom Label in Hayward, California.
• Community Printers in Santa Cruz, California, printed our brochure on a Xerox 700, on Sterling Ultra Digital 80#, using the same G7 process.

Would you like to see for yourself? Click here to order your free M&M Project package!