Craft business · Print-to-digital
Translating a letterpress studio's inks to the screen
A studio's signature mixed inks looked flat and wrong online. We built a digital system that feels like paper.
Written by Hana Sato · 15 August 2026 · Ink & Iron Press (composite case)
Before
After
The challenge
The studio's website used pure primary colors picked from a generic swatch panel. Customers regularly said the printed pieces 'looked nothing like the website' — the actual inks were hand-mixed, slightly muted, and printed on cream cotton stock.
The approach
We photographed ink draw-downs under calibrated 5000K light, extracted colors from the images, and then — the important step — compared them against physical swatches on a calibrated display, adjusting by eye. The Physical module was used in reverse to confirm the digital values were achievable with the studio's pigment set.
Palette decisions
primary #A23B2A
The studio's signature brick red, as it actually appears on cotton stock — far less saturated than #FF0000.
background #F3ECDD
Measured from unprinted cream stock. This single change did more for authenticity than any other.
text #23201C
Letterpress black ink is never pure black; this warm near-black matches the dense impression.
The outcome
Customer comments about mismatched colors stopped. The studio now uses the same token file for its website, its Instagram templates, and — via the recipes — for re-mixing inks.