Is it the file or the press, color managed everything in Denver and still got muddy greens

Overheard a press guy say CMYK profiles are just suggestions, I've spent $300 on color proofing that matched nothing, who do you trust when the monitor and the press disagree?

2 comments

2 Comments

mitchell.shane7d ago

That $300 proofing matched nothing" hit home hard. I've been there too. What finally worked for me was getting the pressman to run a test strip with my file on their actual press, then I adjusted my monitor to match that printed sheet instead of trusting the proofing service. Also, I stopped chasing perfect greens and started bringing a physical color swatch book to the shop, we matched it under their lights right there. It's a pain but cheaper than another round of proofs.

the_shane7d agoMost Upvoted

...and honestly that's exactly what my buddy Dave went through last year. He runs a small print shop up in Ohio, and he had a client who paid for the fancy proofing on these huge posters for a trade show. The color was way off when the posters finally showed up, like the blues had this weird purple cast to them. So Dave, he took one of the rejected posters, cut it down, and taped it next to his monitor at home. He spent a whole weekend just tweaking his screen settings until the colors on his screen matched that printed sheet, not the proofing file. Next job he did for that same client, he used his new screen setup and walked the pressman through the color check right on the machine. It was a rough lesson, but now he tells everyone to just skip the fancy proof and do a test run on the actual press, even if it costs a little extra. Saves a whole lot of headache and money in the long run.