Colour management using printer profiles (.icc/.icm files)

What is colour management in simple terms?

Colour management is the process of making sure that the colours you see on your computer screen look the same when you print them out. This is important because different devices (like computer monitors and printers) can show colours differently, and you want to make sure that the colours you see on your screen are as close as possible to the colours that will be printed.

To do this, you need to use something called a printer profile or .icc file. A printer profile is like a recipe that tells your computer how to change the colours you see on your screen so that they look the same when they're printed out.

When you get a new printer, it usually comes with a default printer profile that works with that specific printer. But if you want to get the most accurate colours possible, you might need to create or download a custom printer profile that's made just for your printer, paper, and ink.

Once you have a printer profile, you can use it to make sure that the colours you see on your screen are the same as the colors that will be printed. You do this by using special software (which is usually built into your computer or photo editing software) to apply the printer profile to your pictures before you print them.

So in short, color management and printer profiles are important because they help you get the colours you want in your prints. By using a printer profile, you can make sure that the colours you see on your screen are the same as the colours that will be printed. 

Our dye sublimation inks for Brother and Epson include canned/universal printer profiles - although these will aid somewhat to improve colour accuracy they are not perfect! Keep in mind these small desktop printers have a very limited colour gamut (range) and physically cannot replicate every colour your monitor/screen can. Also due to the huge number of variables involved with the dye sub process itself (printer/ink/transfer paper/blank media/time/temp/pressure used etc) colours will vary accordingly, quite dramatically sometimes. Please expect some trial and error and initial R&D?