Curated CMYK purples
The hardest family in process. A true violet is outside the four-colour gamut; these are the honest best, and the page names the spot alternative.
Close, not exact. Each swatch is simulated for a standard coated or uncoated sheet, but a screen makes colour with light and paper reflects it. For the real thing, use the printed reference card.
Previews simulate a standard coated or uncoated sheet. A screen can't show ink exactly; the printed card can.
11 tonal runs · 77 builds
Dark → light, left to rightPPC-067
PPC-102
PPC-029
PPC-064
PPC-066
PPC-101
PPC-028
PPC-103
PPC-030
PPC-065
PPC-100
Every value
What to know before you specify one
- The same build is not the same colour on two stocks. Coated seals the surface, so the ink sits on top: denser, brighter, sharper. Uncoated absorbs it and the dots gain, so the identical numbers come back darker, duller and lower in contrast. Flip the switch above to see the difference, and judge the final colour on paper, not on a screen.
- Below about 8% a screen stops being reliable. On uncoated it fills in, on coated it can vanish. The tint steps here sit above that floor deliberately, so the light end of a family still prints as a colour rather than as a rumour.
- Process is right for photographic work, for anything with many colours in it, and for jobs where the colour needs to be close rather than exact. A spot ink is right when the colour is the brand and has to be identical on every run, and when the colour sits outside what four inks can reach at all.
Pairs beautifully with
Three combinations that hold up on press. Open one and the Studio starts with the stock, the foil and the ink already locked in.
PPC-067 on Gmund Gold Essence
PPC-067 on Gmund Gold Essence is uncoated, so the dots gain: the same 15/80/0/25 build prints a step darker and duller than it looks on screen. That softness is usually the reason to choose this sheet. The essence, metallic gold face (from smooth lustre to coarse glitter-like pigment in shimmer and breeze); matt, sometimes strongly coloured back ground shows through a translucent build — the printed colour shifts toward the sheet, so sign off against a printed sample.
Compatibility matrix
Start this combinationPPC-067 on Gmund Hemp Hanf 50
PPC-067 on Gmund Hemp Hanf 50 is uncoated, so the dots gain: the same 15/80/0/25 build prints a step darker and duller than it looks on screen. That softness is usually the reason to choose this sheet. The hanf 50, undyed natural uncoated; firm, slightly rugged surface with a soft hand from long hemp fibres ground shows through a translucent build — the printed colour shifts toward the sheet, so sign off against a printed sample.
Compatibility matrix
Start this combinationPPC-067 on Gmund Manteco Mustard
PPC-067 on Gmund Manteco Mustard is uncoated, so the dots gain: the same 15/80/0/25 build prints a step darker and duller than it looks on screen. That softness is usually the reason to choose this sheet. The mustard, soft, velvety cotton surface with a textile character and fine visible fibres ground shows through a translucent build — the printed colour shifts toward the sheet, so sign off against a printed sample.
Compatibility matrix
Start this combinationCommon questions
- Do these purples shift on uncoated stock?
- Yes, every one of them. Uncoated fibres absorb the ink and the dots gain, so the identical build comes back darker, duller and lower in contrast than the coated version. It is not a fault, it is what that sheet does to process ink. Check it on the printed reference card in our sample kit, and approve your digital proof before anything prints.
- Can you match a brand colour with one of these purples?
- Sometimes close, rarely exact. This family sits against the edge of what four inks can reach, so if the colour is the brand the honest answer is a spot ink. We will tell you which case you are in before it goes to plate.
- How are the tonal steps built?
- Each run starts from one tested base. The shades add 25%, 50% and 75% black to it; the tints drop the ink to 75%, 50% and 25%. That gives you seven values that belong together, so hierarchy inside one hue never needs a second colour.
- Are these an official colour standard?
- These are our own house recommendations, set for the papers we print on. They are not a published colour standard and are not affiliated with any colour system.