Colour is one of the first things a customer notices about a capsule, and one of the easiest ways to make your product stand out. The right colours help people recognise your brand, tell different strengths apart, and protect the ingredients inside. Here is how to choose cap and body colours, finishes and printing for empty hard gelatin capsules.
The short answer
Pick an opaque shell if your fill is light-sensitive or you want a clean, uniform look, and a transparent shell if you want customers to see the fill. Use two-tone cap and body colours to make your brand recognisable, and a different colour for each strength in a range. Lock in the shade with a colour code so every repeat order matches.
Opaque or transparent?
Opaque shells
Made opaque with an opacifier such as titanium dioxide. They hide the fill, give a smooth solid colour, and help protect light-sensitive ingredients such as some vitamins and herbal extracts.
Transparent shells
Clear or tinted shells that show the fill inside. Popular for natural products, pellets and visually attractive blends, where seeing the contents builds trust.
Metallic finish
A shimmering finish for premium supplements and specialist products that need to look special on the shelf. See our metallic capsules.
Pearl finish
A soft, lustrous sheen that feels refined and high-end. See our pearl capsules.
Two-tone capsules: using the cap and body
Every hard gelatin capsule has two parts, a cap and a body, and each can be a different colour. Two-tone combinations are far more distinctive than a single colour, which is why most well-known medicines use them. A strong pairing, such as a dark cap with a light body, is easy to recognise at a glance and gives good contrast for printing.
What colours say about your product
There are no fixed rules, but some colour associations are widely used across the industry:
| Colour | Often used for |
|---|---|
| White and ivory | Clean, clinical, neutral; works with any brand and shows printing clearly |
| Green | Herbal, natural and Ayurvedic products |
| Yellow, orange and gold | Vitamins, energy and premium supplements |
| Blue | Calm, trust and medical products |
| Red and maroon | Strong, high-visibility products and iron or blood-related formulations |
| Brown and amber | Herbal extracts and earthy, traditional products |
| Clear | Products where seeing the fill matters, such as pellets or coloured blends |
Use colour to tell strengths apart
If you sell the same product in several strengths, give each strength its own colour or colour combination. Patients, pharmacists and caregivers can then tell them apart instantly, which reduces mix-ups. Keep the same overall style across the range so the brand stays recognisable.
Add printing for extra recognition
Printing your brand name, logo or strength on the capsule makes it even easier to identify and harder to copy. Choose an ink colour that contrasts well with the shell, such as black or dark blue on a light cap, or white on a dark one. Read more in our guide to printed capsules.
Make sure your colours repeat exactly
Once you have chosen a shade, it should look identical on every order. At Universe Capsules, custom shades are matched from a physical sample or a Pantone reference, assigned a colour code, and reproduced on every repeat order. Always approve a physical sample before production, because colours on a screen never look exactly the same as on a gelatin shell.
Check the rules in your market
Permitted colourants differ between countries and between medicines and food supplements. For example, some markets restrict titanium dioxide in food and supplements. Tell your capsule supplier where your product will be sold so the colours can be made with colourants permitted there. It is also wise to avoid colour combinations that closely copy a well-known brand.
Frequently asked questions
Can the cap and body be different colours?
Yes. Cap and body are specified separately, so any two-tone combination is possible.
Do transparent capsules protect the fill from light?
Less than opaque capsules. If your ingredients are light-sensitive, choose an opaque shell.
Can you match my brand colour?
Yes. Send us a physical sample or a Pantone reference and we will match it and give it a colour code for future orders.
Does colour affect how a capsule works?
No. Colourants change the appearance of the shell, not how quickly it dissolves or how the medicine works.
Design your own capsule colours
Choose your size, cap and body colours, finish and printing, and we will send samples for approval.
Customise your capsules
