Roastar’s Color Journey: How GMG Improves Color Consistency in Custom Packaging

As our product lineup, material offerings, and customer base have grown, our previous color workflow began to show its limits.

It relied on older conversion standards that weren’t designed to support the variety of files, materials, and press environments we manage today. That meant extra manual adjustments behind the scenes and occasional color variation between runs, materials, or presses.

GMG allows us to standardize color across our presses using a more modern, scientific approach. By moving from older SWOP-based conversions to GRACoL-aligned standards, we’re able to deliver more consistent color, stronger repeatability, and more accurate color translation overall.

This wasn’t a cosmetic upgrade—it was a foundational change. Our goal as your packaging partner is to support long-term consistency as your brand grows, not just a single successful print run.

The biggest customer-facing benefit of GMG is simple: Your colors are more consistent from order to order.

With GMG full color digital printing, every press is aligned to a consistent color target for each material. This reduces surprises, improves reorder accuracy, and helps ensure your packaging matches your approved proof on that same material.

Here are a few more benefits:

• Better alignment between digital proofs and final output

• Improved repeatability when reordering months—or even years—later

• More accurate color rendering across different materials (white, metallic, kraft, clear, etc.)

Side-by-side comparison between the original artwork (left) and GMG (right). A subtle color shift is most noticeable in the richer orange of this 2 lb custom gusset bag by Julian Coffee Roasters. If you’re reordering an older design, we recommend requesting a new set of flat proofs to review the colors before printing.

Some customers notice that repeat artwork may not look exactly the same as it did under our previous system. That’s expected—and it’s actually a sign the new system is doing its job.

Under GMG, CMYK values are interpreted more precisely based on the specific material and press profile being used. That means even identical CMYK builds may appear slightly different than they did before, but those differences reflect a more accurate translation of the intended color.

Due to this, we now recommend keeping Pantone colors as Pantone whenever possible. GMG is effective at converting Pantone colors into CMYK builds that visually match the intended swatch. In many cases, customers see results that are closer to their original Pantone reference than ever before.

Variations in the color and tone of brown kraft bags are completely normal. Because kraft is a paper-based material made from natural wood fibers, its appearance can shift depending on the trees used, the season they were harvested, and the specific batch of paper produced.

These natural variations aren’t a printing issue—they’re simply part of the organic character of kraft materials.

GMG helps us manage color more consistently, but it can’t eliminate the inherent variation in the material itself. In practical terms, colors printed on kraft may appear warmer, darker, or slightly muted compared to white materials, as the natural brown paper can vary in color from run to run.

If color consistency is critical to your brand, we recommend selecting a material other than kraft or compostable brown kraft.

To get the most out of the new color management system, keep these guidelines in mind:

• If color is critical, consider ordering new proofs (especially for legacy designs)

• Use Pantone Solid Coated colors when you have established brand standards

• Expect improved consistency across presses and materials, not identical matches to old runs

• When in doubt, our prepress team is happy to review files before production

This transition was a big change that involved rebuilding profiles, retraining workflows, and rethinking how color is verified at press—all with the goal of better, more reliable results for our customers.

GMG went live across our primary presses on June 30, 2025, and we’re already seeing stronger consistency, faster setups, and more accurate color matching as a result.

If your most recent order was placed before this date and color is critical to your project, we recommend requesting a new set of flat proofs before placing your next order to ensure expectations are aligned. If you need help navigating Pantone, CMYK, or material choices, our team is here to help as always. Reach out with any questions.

Q: What is GMG?

A: GMG is a professional color management and proofing software platform used in digital printing to ensure color accuracy, consistency, and repeatability across presses and materials.

Q: Why did Roastar switch to GMG now?

A: As our materials, presses, and customer projects have expanded, we needed a more advanced system to deliver consistent color across everything we print. GMG provides a stronger foundation for long-term quality and consistency.

Q: Do I need to update my artwork because of GMG?

A: Not necessarily. However, if color accuracy is critical, or if you’re reordering an older design, we recommend reviewing or proofing your artwork to ensure the best results under the new system.

Q: Will GMG slow down production or reorders?

A: No. In fact, GMG helps streamline setup and reduce rework, which supports faster, more predictable production over time.

Q: How do you verify color matches from press to press and run to run?

A: We don’t rely on visual checks alone. Every press run includes a measured control strip that we read with a spectrophotometer. This allows us to verify solid colors, tone values, gray balance, and overall color accuracy against our GRACoL targets.

At the same time, these measurements confirm the press is performing within the manufacturer’s specified color tolerances. Because each press is profiled and checked against the same standard, we can verify with data—not guesswork—that color stays consistent from press to press and from run to run.