Section 20: Colour Management
Section 20: Colour Management
Everything colour-related in Luminate â from the first settings decision all the way to the stylist weighing bowls on the iPad scale. Structured colour formulas replace freeform Colour consultation notes with precise gram-level recipes, and (in Full mode) automatically bill customers when they exceed the grams included in their service price. The Colour Bar is the tablet-based counterpart for live mixing against a Bluetooth scale.
Tutorials in This Section
20.1 Getting Started with Colour Management
A one-page orientation to the whole feature: the three modes (Notes, Formulas, Full), what turns on at each level, and how to decide which is right for your salon. Read this before any of the others.
Time: 5-10 minutes
20.2 Configuring Colour Settings & Charge Rules
Owners configure the salon's colour mode, set the default colour charge rule, and define any additional rules here. Covers applies_to, markup types (flat / percentage / per-gram), minimum charge, minimum overage, and the live preview.
Time: 15 minutes
20.3 Brands and Your Colour Catalogue
Brands are their own catalogue now. Learn how to create, edit, and delete brands, what the three brand types (Product / Colour / Both) mean, and how to reassign products when you retire a brand.
Time: 10 minutes
20.4 Setting Up Colour Products
Gram-tracked colour products live on the Products page's new Colour tab. Walk through the Add Colour Product dialog, understand net weight and cost per gram, and set initial stock.
Time: 10-15 minutes
20.5 Colour Stock Take
How to run a physical stock take using the inline-edit Colour tab or the dedicated stock take page. Covers reading the stock movement audit log and reconciling discrepancies.
Time: 15-20 minutes
20.6 Creating a Colour Formula
Deep dive on the unified formula dialog: bowls, products, barcode scanning, Plan-only, Save draft, Finalise, Revert. Used on customer profiles, the appointment sidebar, and the appointment detail page.
Time: 15 minutes
20.7 Mixing Colour at Appointments
From the appointment's perspective: when does a formula appear, how to record actuals mid-service, and how a finalised formula stages the overage charge onto the live draft.
Time: 10 minutes
20.8 Overage Billing Explained
How the emerald Colour overage line reaches the till, how edits and Revert flow through to POS, and what happens once the transaction completes (formula becomes read-only, rule snapshot is frozen).
Time: 15 minutes
20.9 Colour Bar Overview and Setup
The tablet-based flow at a high level: what the Colour Bar is, the iPad hardware setup you need, and how to switch the native app into Colour Bar mode.
Time: 10 minutes
20.10 Colour Bar: Day-to-Day Use
The stylist's daily workflow: stylist picker, date navigation, status filter chips (Mine / All / Pending / In mix / Applied / Reweigh due), and how to move between appointments.
Time: 10 minutes
20.11 Colour Bar: Planning a Formula
The Edit screen on tablet: Start fresh vs Copy & edit, bowls up to six, per-bowl barcode scanning, developer volume, notes, totals, and the path to the Mix screen.
Time: 10-15 minutes
20.12 Colour Bar: Mixing with the Scale
Live weighing against the Bluetooth scale. Covers the LiveWeightCard, Tare and Capture, what "Stable" means, reading the battery indicator, and what to do if the scale disconnects mid-mix.
Time: 10-15 minutes
20.13 Colour Bar: Reweighing Leftovers
The post-application step. When reweigh is offered, how to Skip reweigh if leftovers are lost, the "used more than dispensed" warning, and how usage totals reach the reports.
Time: 10 minutes
20.14 Pairing Your Acaia Pearl Scale (DRAFT) (Placeholder)
Draft placeholder for the upcoming BLE pairing flow. The pairing UI is not yet shipped â this tutorial will be completed once the Acaia Pearl driver lands. Flagged clearly as DRAFT.
Time: TBC
20.15 Troubleshooting the Colour Bar & Scale (DRAFT) (Placeholder)
Draft troubleshooting guide. The battery and live-weight state sections are accurate today; the connection / pairing sections are placeholders pending the BLE pairing UI.
Time: Reference only
Recommended Reading Order
Owners rolling out colour management for the first time:
- 20.1 Getting Started â decide which mode suits your salon
- 20.3 Brands â set up brands before you start tagging products
- 20.4 Colour Products â get your catalogue gram-accurate
- 20.2 Settings & Charge Rules â configure the mode and (if on Full) the default charge rule
- 20.5 Stock Take â run an initial count so the gram balances are real
- 20.6 Creating a Formula + 20.7 Mixing at Appointments â the staff workflow
- 20.8 Overage Billing â what owners/admins need to know about how charges reach the till
- 20.9 Colour Bar Overview â only if you're rolling out the tablet flow
Stylists joining a salon already on colour formulas:
- 20.1 Getting Started
- 20.6 Creating a Formula
- 20.7 Mixing at Appointments
Colour Bar (tablet) users:
- 20.9 Colour Bar Overview
- 20.10 Day-to-Day Use
- 20.11 Planning a Formula â 20.12 Mixing â 20.13 Reweighing
- 20.14 Pairing Your Scale (when published)
- 20.15 Troubleshooting (for reference)
Who Should Read This Section
- Salon owners â all tutorials, with 20.1 and 20.2 as the starting points
- Managers â 20.3 through 20.7 (catalogue, stock take, formula workflow)
- Colour specialists / stylists â 20.1, 20.6, 20.7, and the Colour Bar tutorials (20.9â20.13)
- Reception / admin â 20.7 and 20.8 so they recognise the overage line on the POS
- IT / person setting up the iPad â 20.9 and 20.14
Next Steps
After completing Section 20, revisit:
- Section 7: Services and Products â especially the Colour Service card in Tutorial 7.1 and the Colour tab in Tutorial 7.2
- Section 2: Daily Operations â Tutorial 2.4 covers how the colour overage line behaves in POS
- Section 12: Advanced Features â Tutorial 12.5 is a quick-reference companion to 20.6
Last Updated: April 2026