A method is provided for determining colorant levels required by a printer to match a target color. A set of candidate colors is generated on a computer and printed on the printer. Color neighbors in the candidate color sets are calculated based on the colorants of the particular printer being used, but are presented to the user according to their human-natural organization by hue, lightness and saturation. One or more further sets of candidate colors are generated on the computer in response to user input indicative of a correlation between a color in a most recent printed set of candidate colors and the target color. The user then chooses a further set of candidate colors to be printed. The steps of generating and printing further sets of candidate colors are repeated, if necessary, until a selected color in the most recent printed set of candidate colors acceptably matches the target color. Information indicative of the colorant levels required by the printer to print the selected color is recorded for subsequent use in printing that color.