Overview
Zakeke allows you to set a maximum number of colors that your customers can use in creating their personalization designs. The limit works on the whole design, which means that all the elements (texts and images) that make up the design cannot have a number of colors higher than the one you defined.
In addition to being able to define a number limit, you can also define which colors the customer can use (limited palette of colors).
Enabling the limit
Go to your Zakeke back-office > Printing Methods > select or create a Printing Method;
Check the "Set a limit for the number of colors customers can use in a design" option.
You'll be required to set the limit and, if you want, create the limited palette (this is optional -- if you do not make it, your customers will be able to pick any colors from a color picker).
As an extra option, you can make it that Zakeke generates a print-ready file in PNG for each color in the design instead of a single print-ready file with the full design.
How it works for your customers
Once the feature is activated, your customers will be able to create designs using a maximum number of colors defined by you.
If they upload an image that exceeds the allowed number of colors, Zakeke automatically adapts the image to fit the available color palette. The image is converted by separating transparent and colored areas and mapping the remaining elements to the allowed colors.
This approach helps preserve the recognizability of logos and complex elements while respecting production constraints.
Customers can adjust the conversion result using the available controls, including the transparency threshold, which defines which parts of the image remain visible and which become transparent. They can also invert transparent and colored areas and change the final colors of the image (unless the merchant has locked this option).
When the color limit allows more than one color, customers can also access Advanced Mode, where they can manually adjust the color mapping and further customize the result beyond the automatic adaptation performed by Zakeke.
The color limit applies to the entire design, not only to uploaded images:
- If customers start from text, the color they choose becomes part of the limited palette.
- If they add additional elements, such as images or text, those elements are adapted to the colors already in use.
- Customers can use the Colors in Use palette to change the colors applied to the design. Any color change will be reflected across all elements using that color.
This ensures that the entire design always respects the maximum number of colors allowed.
This combination is especially powerful for companies that want customers to work on clean, vector-based images and use printing methods with limited color options — such as monochrome or screen printing.
For a smoother experience, we recommend setting the Background Remover and Vectorizer tools to Automatic Mode. This way, both actions happen automatically when the image is uploaded, ensuring a seamless workflow without breaking the design flow between multiple modals.