Evaluation of the colour rendering of brand identity elements on sustainable papers made from invasive alien plant species

Možina, Klemen (author), Sarjanović, Anja (author)

The use of invasive plant species for papermaking presents both environmental and economic opportunities, particularly for companies seeking to introduce sustainable materials. This study examined whether paper made from cellulose fibres of Japanese knotweed is suitable for printing business elements such as logos in specific red colours. The physical, mechanical, and optical properties of the paper were compared with those of standard office and commercial Xerox paper. Two printing techniques  electrophotography and inkjet printing  were tested, and the colour differences (CIE colour difference, ΔE) between the reference logo and the prints, with and without the International Colour Consortium (ICC) colour profile, were evaluated. The results showed that the low whiteness and high porosity of the knotweed paper negatively affected colour reproduction, especially in inkjet printing, where even manually optimised profiles did not yield satisfactory results (minimum ΔE > 23). Electrophotography performed better but still had limitations. It was concluded that Japanese knotweed paper is not suitable for professional reproduction of demanding colour elements without additional processing, although it has potential for sustainable applications with lower visual requirements.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Japanese knotweed, sustainable printing, invasive alien species, colour reproduction, ICC profiles, colour differences, inkjet printing, electrophotography, brand identity
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: NTF - Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 18 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 12, iss. 5
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-182327
• UDC: 676
• ISSN on article: 2313-433X
• DOI: 10.3390/jimaging12050193
• COBISS.SI-ID: 277348611
• Publication date in RUL: 07.05.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Journal of imaging
• Shortened title: J. imaging
• Publisher: MDPI AG
• ISSN: 2313-433X
• COBISS.SI-ID: 525653017

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: Japonski dresnik, trajnostne tiskovine, invazivne tujerodne rastline, barvna reprodukcija, ICC profili, barvne razlike, kapljični tisk, elektrofotgrafija, blagovna znamka

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P2-0450-2024
• Name: Inovativna grafična tehnologija