Watched my proof get approved on a monitor for 2 days, then the press guy held up a printed sheet in the sun | CMYK Mistakes - The Design Community Hub
Watched my proof get approved on a monitor for 2 days, then the press guy held up a printed sheet in the sun
I spent 9 hours tweaking my blues on screen and they looked perfect, but the first press sheet came out muddy and grey. The press guy in Fresno looked at me and asked if I had ever proofed on paper, and I had to admit I hadn't. Now I keep a cheap $15 proof box under my desk, but I want to know if anyone here still soft proofs everything or do you all hard proof now?
I used to be all in on soft proofing, like I would literally calibrate my monitor every week and swear the screen never lied to me. Then I did a run of labels where the client's brand color was this deep forest green and it looked amazing on my screen but came back almost black on the printed sheets. That one cost me a reprint and a very awkward phone call. Now I still soft proof for layout and basic stuff, but anything where color matters I'm paying for a hard proof or at least running a few sheets on the actual stock. The screen just can't show you how ink sits on paper, it's a totally different thing. I fought this for years because hard proofs cost money and take time, but eating one bad print job teaches you real fast.