An apparatus (100) and method (200) that controls color of a clear coated image on media is disclosed. The apparatus may include a controller (110) configured to control operations of the apparatus. The apparatus may include a memory (120) coupled to the controller. The memory may include reference color information corresponding to a desired color of an output image. The apparatus may include a front end (130) configured to provide a marking engine control signal corresponding to the desired color of the output image. The apparatus may include a color marking engine (140) coupled to the front end, where the color marking engine can be configured to generate an image on media responsive to the marking engine control signal using image output settings. The apparatus may include a clear coat finisher (150) configured to coat the image on the media with a clear coat to create a clear coated image on the media. The apparatus may include a sensor (160) configured to measure color attributes of the clear coated image and configured to provide color information of the clear coated image. The controller can be configured to determine a difference between the color information of the clear coated image and the reference color information and can be configured to adjust the image output settings according to the difference between the color information and the reference color information to achieve adjusted image output settings.