diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index d1f7ab3..d9069fd 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -22,32 +22,32 @@ output_path=$(realpath -m "${1}")
 shim_path=$(realpath -m "${2}")
 rootfs_dir=$(realpath -m "${3}")
 
-echo "reading the shim image"
+print_info "reading the shim image"
 initramfs_dir=/tmp/shim_initramfs
 kernel_img=/tmp/kernel.img
 rm -rf $initramfs_dir $kernel_img
 extract_initramfs_full $shim_path $initramfs_dir $kernel_img "${args['arch']}"
 
-echo "patching initramfs"
+print_info "patching initramfs"
 patch_initramfs $initramfs_dir
 
-echo "creating disk image"
+print_info "creating disk image"
 rootfs_size=$(du -sm $rootfs_dir | cut -f 1)
 rootfs_part_size=$(($rootfs_size * 12 / 10 + 5))
 #create a 20mb bootloader partition
 #rootfs partition is 20% larger than its contents
 create_image $output_path 20 $rootfs_part_size
 
-echo "creating loop device for the image"
+print_info "creating loop device for the image"
 image_loop=$(create_loop ${output_path})
 
-echo "creating partitions on the disk image"
+print_info "creating partitions on the disk image"
 create_partitions $image_loop $kernel_img
 
-echo "copying data into the image"
+print_info "copying data into the image"
 populate_partitions $image_loop $initramfs_dir $rootfs_dir "${args['quiet']}"
 rm -rf $initramfs_dir $kernel_img
 
-echo "cleaning up loop devices"
+print_info "cleaning up loop devices"
 losetup -d $image_loop
-echo "done"
\ No newline at end of file
+print_info "done"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build_complete.sh b/build_complete.sh
index 5349ca3..6a2558a 100755
--- a/build_complete.sh
+++ b/build_complete.sh
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ arm_boards="
   kukui peach-pi peach-pit stumpy daisy-spring
 "
 if grep -q "$board" <<< "$arm_boards"; then
-  echo "automatically detected arm64 device name"
+  print_info "automatically detected arm64 device name"
   arch="arm64"
 fi
 
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ needed_deps="wget python3 unzip zip git debootstrap cpio binwalk pcregrep cgpt m
 if [ "$(check_deps "$needed_deps")" ]; then
   #install deps automatically on debian and ubuntu
   if [ -f "/etc/debian_version" ]; then
-    echo "attempting to install build deps"
+    print_title "attempting to install build deps"
     apt-get install wget python3-all unzip zip debootstrap cpio binwalk pcregrep cgpt kmod pv lz4 -y
     if [ "$arch" = "arm64" ]; then
       apt-get install qemu-user-static binfmt-support -y
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ else
   data_dir="$(realpath -m "$data_dir")"
 fi
 
-echo "downloading list of recovery images"
+print_title "downloading list of recovery images"
 reco_url="$(wget -qO- --show-progress $boards_url | python3 -c '
 import json, sys
 
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ if "models" in board:
 reco_url = list(board["pushRecoveries"].values())[-1]
 print(reco_url)
 ' $board)"
-echo "found url: $reco_url"
+print_info "found url: $reco_url"
 
 shim_bin="$data_dir/shim_$board.bin"
 shim_zip="$data_dir/shim_$board.zip"
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ download_and_unzip() {
 
   if [ ! -f "$bin_path" ]; then
     cleanup_path="$bin_path"
-    echo "extracting $zip_path"
+    print_info "extracting $zip_path"
     local total_bytes="$(unzip -lq $zip_path | tail -1 | xargs | cut -d' ' -f1)"
     if [ ! "$quiet" ]; then
       unzip -p $zip_path | pv -s $total_bytes > $bin_path
@@ -128,10 +128,10 @@ retry_cmd() {
   done
 }
 
-echo "downloading recovery image"
+print_title "downloading recovery image"
 download_and_unzip $reco_url $reco_zip $reco_bin
 
-echo "downloading shim image"
+print_title "downloading shim image"
 download_and_unzip $shim_url $shim_zip $shim_bin
 
 if [ ! "$rootfs_dir" ]; then
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ if [ ! "$rootfs_dir" ]; then
   rm -rf $rootfs_dir
   mkdir -p $rootfs_dir
 
-  echo "building debian rootfs"
+  print_title "building debian rootfs"
   ./build_rootfs.sh $rootfs_dir $release \
     custom_packages=$desktop_package \
     hostname=shimboot-$board \
@@ -152,22 +152,22 @@ if [ ! "$rootfs_dir" ]; then
     arch=$arch
 fi
 
-echo "patching debian rootfs"
+print_title "patching debian rootfs"
 retry_cmd ./patch_rootfs.sh $shim_bin $reco_bin $rootfs_dir "quiet=$quiet"
 
-echo "building final disk image"
+print_title "building final disk image"
 final_image="$data_dir/shimboot_$board.bin"
 rm -rf $final_image
 retry_cmd ./build.sh $final_image $shim_bin $rootfs_dir "quiet=$quiet" "arch=$arch"
-echo "build complete! the final disk image is located at $final_image"
+print_info "build complete! the final disk image is located at $final_image"
 
-echo "cleaning up"
+print_title "cleaning up"
 clean_loops
 
 if [ "$compress_img" ]; then
   image_zip="$data_dir/shimboot_$board.zip"
-  echo "compressing disk image into a zip file"
+  print_title "compressing disk image into a zip file"
   zip -j $image_zip $final_image
-  echo "finished compressing the disk file"
-  echo "the finished zip file can be found at $image_zip" 
+  print_info "finished compressing the disk file"
+  print_info "the finished zip file can be found at $image_zip" 
 fi
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build_squashfs.sh b/build_squashfs.sh
index 0751db3..1f15486 100755
--- a/build_squashfs.sh
+++ b/build_squashfs.sh
@@ -50,19 +50,19 @@ root_squashfs="$rootfs_dir/root.squashfs"
 modules_squashfs="$rootfs_dir/modules.squashfs"
 unionfs_dir="/tmp/unionfs-fuse"
 
-echo "compiling unionfs-fuse"
+print_info "compiling unionfs-fuse"
 compile_unionfs $unionfs_dir/unionfs $unionfs_dir
 
-echo "reading the shim image"
+print_info "reading the shim image"
 extract_initramfs_full $shim_path $rootfs_dir
 rm -rf $rootfs_dir/init
 
-echo "compressing old rootfs"
+print_info "compressing old rootfs"
 mksquashfs $old_dir $root_squashfs -noappend -comp gzip
 
-echo "patching new rootfs"
+print_info "patching new rootfs"
 mv $unionfs_dir/unionfs $rootfs_dir/bin/unionfs
 cp -ar squashfs/* $rootfs_dir/
 chmod +x $rootfs_dir/bin/*
 
-echo "done"
\ No newline at end of file
+print_info "done"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/common.sh b/common.sh
index 827228f..a1c0a30 100755
--- a/common.sh
+++ b/common.sh
@@ -6,6 +6,12 @@ if [ "$DEBUG" ]; then
   export DEBUG=1
 fi
 
+ANSI_CLEAR='\033[0m'
+ANSI_BOLD='\033[1m'
+ANSI_RED='\033[1;31m'
+ANSI_GREEN='\033[1;32m'
+ANSI_BLUE='\033[1;34m'
+
 check_deps() {
   local needed_commands="$1"
   for command in $needed_commands; do
@@ -19,9 +25,9 @@ assert_deps() {
   local needed_commands="$1"
   local missing_commands=$(check_deps "$needed_commands")
   if [ "${missing_commands}" ]; then
-    echo "You are missing dependencies needed for this script."
-    echo "Commands needed:"
-    echo "${missing_commands}"
+    print_error "You are missing dependencies needed for this script."
+    print_error "Commands needed:"
+    print_error "${missing_commands}"
     exit 1
   fi
 }
@@ -43,7 +49,7 @@ parse_args() {
 
 assert_root() {
   if [ "$EUID" -ne 0 ]; then
-    echo "this needs to be run as root."
+    print_error "This script needs to be run as root."
     exit 1
   fi
 }
@@ -54,3 +60,15 @@ assert_args() {
     exit 1
   fi
 }
+
+print_title() {
+  printf ">> ${ANSI_GREEN}${1}${ANSI_CLEAR}\n"
+}
+
+print_info() {
+  printf "${ANSI_BOLD}${1}${ANSI_CLEAR}\n"
+}
+
+print_error() {
+  printf "${ANSI_RED}${1}${ANSI_CLEAR}\n"
+}
\ No newline at end of file