Colour Bar: Mixing with the Scale

10-15 minutes

Tutorial 20.12: Colour Bar: Mixing with the Scale

Introduction

The Mix screen is where the stylist weighs each product live against the plan's targets. It's the beating heart of the Colour Bar — a big weight readout, Tare and Capture buttons, and a running recipe that ticks off as you go.

Who this is for: Stylists / colourists at the Colour Bar station What you'll learn:

Read the LiveWeightCard (weight, stable indicator, battery, target)
Tare the scale
Capture weights and advance through bowls
Finalise the mix and hand off to the till

Time to complete: 10-15 minutes

Prerequisites

A formula planned on the Edit screen (Tutorial 20.11) or a Copy & edit template
Scale paired (Tutorial 20.14 — DRAFT) or the mock driver active for planning-only work

Heads up — BLE driver still landing. The native Acaia Pearl driver is in Phase 3c, still to ship. Until it's released, live-weighing claims below describe the intended flow; on current builds you'll either see the mock driver (dev/staging) or the flow described in Tutorial 20.6 (web app formula dialog) for production weighing.

The Mix screen layout

From top to bottom:

Active item card — a small "Bowl N — Step X of Y" label with the product name underneath; on the right, a "Bowl N of M" label, the step indicator (one dot per bowl), and the current item's target grams
LiveWeightCard — large weight readout, target line, progress bar, status strip (Stable / Reading / Scale disconnected + optional battery), and Tare and Capture buttons. A small hint line appears under the buttons when Capture is disabled
Recipe so far — bowl N — every item in the current bowl, with a tick next to captured rows and the remaining rows showing target Xg
"All bowls mixed" card — emerald card that appears once every item has a captured weight, with a Done — apply colour button

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Place the empty bowl on the scale and Tare

Put the empty bowl on the scale
Tap Tare on the LiveWeightCard
The weight readout resets to 0 g

Tare before adding each product in a new bowl. Doesn't matter if the bowl weight varies between bowls — taring zeroes it out each time.

Step 2: Pour product until you hit the target

The active item's target shows as Target X.X g next to the readout, with a progress bar underneath
Pour slowly — the weight increases in real time
A green dot + Stable appears in the status strip when the reading settles (a few hundred milliseconds without change)
An amber dot + Reading means the scale is still fluctuating — wait a moment before capturing
If you pour past the target, the weight turns amber and the progress bar turns amber — over-target is allowed, just visual feedback

Step 3: Capture the weight

With a stable reading close to the target, tap Capture
The weight is recorded as the item's actual_grams
The item ticks off in the Recipe so far panel
The Active item card advances to the next uncaptured item

If there's another product for the current bowl, keep pouring. When you move to a new bowl, re-tare first.

Step 4: Work through all bowls

The step indicator at the top shows your progress across bowls. Keep pouring, taring between bowls, and capturing — the Colour Bar advances automatically.

Step 5: Finalise

When every item has been captured, the emerald "All bowls mixed" card appears:

Tap Done — apply colour
The formula finalises immediately — there's no confirmation dialog, so only tap when you're ready
Stock decrements, overage billing (if any) stages onto the draft transaction, and the Colour Bar returns to Today with the toast "Formula saved. Apply colour now — reweigh when you return."

Step 6: What happens if the scale disconnects mid-mix?

The LiveWeightCard turns to Scale disconnected state
Tare and Capture are disabled
You can continue using the Colour Bar — you just can't capture until the scale reconnects

Once the scale reconnects, Tare and Capture re-enable. Your captures so far are safe — saved to the server as you went.

Reading the LiveWeightCard

The status strip has one of three connection states. Over-target and low-battery are visual modifiers layered on top.

Indicator	What you see	What to do
Stable	Green pulsing dot + "STABLE"	Safe to Capture
Reading	Amber dot + "READING"	Wait a moment, let the scale settle
Scale disconnected	BluetoothOff icon + "SCALE DISCONNECTED"	Check the scale (awake, paired, in range). Tare and Capture are disabled
Over target (modifier)	Weight number + progress bar turn amber	You've overpoured — either adjust the bowl or Capture the higher weight; overage billing handles it
Battery low (modifier)	Battery indicator + percentage turn amber at ≤ 20%	Charge the scale between appointments

When Capture is disabled, a hint appears directly under the buttons explaining why. The exact strings are:

"Pair a scale to capture readings."
"Place the bowl on the scale to read the weight."
"Waiting for a stable reading…"

Common Pitfalls

"Capture is greyed out"

Capture is disabled when the scale is disconnected, there's no reading yet (nothing on the pan), or the reading isn't stable. Check the hint under the buttons — it tells you which one. A weight of 0.0 g with a stable reading is allowed (sometimes you deliberately capture nothing for an item).

"I overpoured — now what?"

Either tip a bit back out (not always possible with colour), or accept the higher actual. The formula's overage will simply be larger. The charge rule handles it.

"The scale shows a weight but the Colour Bar says disconnected"

Connection recently dropped. Give it a few seconds to reconnect, or force a re-pair via Tutorial 20.14 (when published). Meanwhile you can still hand-enter actuals via the web app's formula dialog (Tutorial 20.6).

"I completed a bowl but the Recipe so far doesn't reflect it"

Refresh the page. Your captures are server-side so nothing's lost — the UI just hasn't caught up.

"I tapped Done but nothing happened"

Network blip — Done — apply colour posts straight to the server without a local confirmation step. Wait a second, then tap again. If it persists, switch to the web app dialog (Tutorial 20.6) to finalise — the data is the same.

Tips and Best Practices

Re-tare between bowls, always — the bowl weight drifts if you don't.
Wait for Stable — Capturing on Reading leaves small-but-systematic errors across a full mix.
Glance at the battery before each appointment — a 20-minute charge is cheaper than a missed capture.
Capture isn't a countdown — no-one's penalising you for hesitating. Pour past target, pour back, settle, Capture.
Keep an eye on the progress bar — over-target is a normal part of the workflow, not an error.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I edit the plan mid-mix?

Yes — return to Edit from the appointment hub. Your current actuals are preserved when you save the edit.

Why doesn't it weigh for me automatically?

The Colour Bar reads the scale continuously but waits for a stable reading before allowing Capture. This stops you capturing a fluctuating weight and producing bad actuals.

Does Capture commit the formula immediately?

No — Capture records the actual for one item. The formula finalises when you tap Done — apply colour at the end.

What if the scale connects to the wrong device (e.g. another stylist's iPad)?

The Acaia Pearl pairs to one device at a time. Disconnect from the other device first. The long-term plan is per-device pairing handled by the app (Tutorial 20.14).

Is there a way to weigh without capturing?

Yes — just read the weight on the display. Capture is the "commit this weight as this item's actual" button. If you're just checking, don't tap it.

Last Updated: April 2026