Showerthought: The proof I sent back for a Staples run of 500 flyers had the wrong cyan value and they printed all 500 before I caught it

At the local print shop in Austin last Tuesday I watched them pull the first sheet off the press and the logo was this nasty greenish teal instead of the deep blue I picked, and the manager just shrugged and said 'that's what your file said' so now I triple-check my CMYK percentages before hitting send, has anyone else had a whole run ruined by a single misread proof?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugo374d ago

You ever accidentally bring home the wrong paint color from Home Depot and decide to just live with it? That's basically what I did with 300 business cards once. Looked fine on screen, came back this weird purplish brown instead of the maroon I wanted. Handed them out anyway. Nobody said anything but I still wince every time I see one sitting on a counter somewhere.

rayc834d ago

@hugo37 that line about wincing every time you see one really hit home with me. But here's what I'm curious about - did you ever actually ask anyone what they thought of the color? I know that's a scary thing to do but in my experience people are way less observant than we think. They might have just seen "business card" and moved on without really looking at the shade. I've done similar stuff with flyers and honestly nobody ever pointed out the color was off. Your mileage may vary but maybe the wincing is worse than the actual problem.