Goals:
Please click the [ Mark Complete ] button at the bottom of this page when you’ve achieved these goals:
-
Provide guidelines for colour usage in barcode printing, including the best colours, usage of warm and cool colours, and the need to test colour combinations on multiple scanners.
-
Explain why metallic inks should NOT be used for barcode printing.
See also online: Barcode Colour Guide (PDF).
Colour Guidelines:
- The best colour for barcode printing is black bars on a white background.
- Bars must always be darker than the spaces, with high contrast.
- Cold colours such as green, blue, violet, and black make a good choice for bars, as they appear black under red scanning light.
- Warm colours such as yellow, red, orange and white are not seen by the scanner and are therefore good for background colours.
- If you’re using a colour combination, we recommend that you test your printed barcode label with a few different barcode scanners to make sure that it is easily readable (scanner products can have slightly different colour calibrations).
IMPORTANT: Metallic surfaces and inks should not be used for barcode printing as they reflect light away from the scanner, making scanning extremely difficult.
Acceptable colour combinations:
Unacceptable colour combinations:
