c/cmyk-vs-rgb-wars

I swore soft proofing was a waste of time until my last print run failed

I always thought soft proofing in Photoshop was just a gimmick for perfectionists. But last month I sent a batch of 200 business cards to Printful without checking the CMYK preview, and the neon green logo came out as a gross olive brown. Now I'm a believer lol. Has anyone else had a print disaster from ignoring soft proof that changed their workflow?

2 comments

simonreed•3d ago

Realized I had been soft proofing wrong for like 3 years

I was in a print shop in Austin last month and the owner glanced over my shoulder and pointed out I had my rendering intent set to 'Perceptual' when it should have been 'Relative Colorimetric' for the kind of photos I was doing. Took him 5 seconds to notice something I never even questioned. Anyone else have a pro just casually fix a major blind spot in your workflow?

2 comments

uma896•19d ago

Client told me my print file was "too rich" and I argued back... until I saw the proof

A client last Tuesday said my deep blues were hitting 400% total ink coverage in the shadows. I fought them on it for 20 minutes because it looked gorgeous on screen. They sent me a proof print and yeah, it was a muddy mess that looked like it got left in the rain. I dropped the coverage to 300% by reducing the cyan and magenta curves slightly. The difference was night and day, sharp blacks instead of blobby shadows. Has anyone else had a client save you from a bad habit like that before?

2 comments

tyler822•19d ago

Walked into a FedEx Office last week and watched them print neon green as muddy brown

They had a big sign bragging about same day printing, but the guy behind the counter just shrugged when I pointed out their preview monitor was showing one thing and the print came out completely different. How are we supposed to trust any quick print shop when they won't even calibrate their own equipment?

2 comments

amy302•20d ago

Rant: Printed 500 flyers at FedEx Office and they came out looking like muddy soup

I designed this flyer for a garage sale in Denver and on my monitor the bright yellow background popped so nice. Took the USB drive to FedEx Office downtown and the guy ran 500 copies before I checked. The yellow turned into this gross brownish green and the blue text blended right in. None of the vibrant colors I picked showed up at all. I stood there watching him print the whole batch and felt sick. The manager offered to reprint but said I should have converted to CMYK myself first. I spent 3 hours at home recalibrating my screen after that disaster. Has anyone else had a print shop just run with your RGB file without warning you?

2 comments

faith_smith•22d ago

That Pantone swatch book I swore was just a gimmick back in 2004...

Spent 8 years matching colors by eye for local print jobs in Cleveland until a client rejected 3 proofs in one week because my blues kept reading purple on their end, and the $300 swatch book paid for itself after that single job.

3 comments

hugo37•24d ago

TIL why my business cards came out looking like garbage

I spent like $200 on fancy business cards with a dark teal background. They looked amazing on my monitor. When they showed up the color was this muddy greenish brown. The print shop guy explained that the RGB teal I picked just can't be reproduced in CMYK. He showed me the gamut warning on his screen and I felt like an idiot. Anybody else get burned by a color that just doesn't exist in print?

2 comments

ross.jessica•24d ago

Just had a prepress guy tell me to convert everything to CMYK before sending to print

He said leaving RGB in and letting the RIP handle it was asking for muddy colors. I argued for months until a client's neon green business cards came back looking like swamp water. Anyone else ever trust the converter only to regret it?

2 comments

finley_walker57•25d ago

Printed a batch of business cards that came out looking like muddy soup

I designed these bright green cards on my monitor in RGB, all nice and vibrant. Sent them off to the printer and got back this dull, brownish-green mess that looked nothing like what I saw on screen. Turns out my super-saturated RGB green didn't convert well to CMYK at all. Has anyone else gotten burned by a color that looked fine on screen but turned into a total dud on paper?

3 comments

the_richard•26d ago

Old client from 2015 still emails me about RGB vs CMYK every few months

I had this one client back in 2015, a small business owner named Dave who made custom T-shirts. He insisted on sending me files in RGB because "they looked better on his monitor." I told him maybe 5 times that screen and print are different beasts but he didn't believe me until he paid $200 for a run of shirts that came out looking like muddy garbage. He still emails me every now and then asking if I've "figured out a way to make RGB print right yet." Has anyone else had a client that just refuses to learn after a costly mistake?

2 comments

finley_walker57•28d ago

Got roasted by a print shop owner for using rich black wrong for years

I had this big project for a local coffee shop in Portland, designed everything in RGB like I always do, sent it off. The owner called me back and said my blacks looked like muddy gray on the test print. Turns out I was just using pure black (0,0,0,100) and he said I needed rich black with cyan and magenta mixed in. I had no idea that was even a thing. He walked me through his settings, 60C 40M 40Y 100K, and the difference on the reprint was night and day. Now I'm wondering if I've been messing up all my client's dark backgrounds for years. Has anyone else gotten a rude awakening from a printer about a basic color setting you thought you knew?

2 comments

blair_dixon•29d ago

CMYK wins every time for my real estate brochures despite what clients think they want

Had a seller last month in Scottsdale insist their listing photos looked better in RGB. I let them see a test print of the same shot in both modes and the CMYK version had way more realistic sky tones. Their RGB version turned the stucco pink (which, you know, is not a good look for a desert home). Has anyone else had to explain to clients that their phone screen is lying to them about print colors?

2 comments

nathanking•29d ago

Debate: Should you trust soft proofing in Photoshop or just run test prints?

I spent 4 hours tweaking a logo to match screen colors, then ran a test print and it came out completely flat. Do you folks trust the built-in soft proofing tools or do you just print samples first?

2 comments

the_ben•29d ago

Just burned $400 on a batch of business cards because I trusted my monitor

The blues looked perfect on screen but came out looking like a bruised purple mess. Anyone else ever have a print shop hit you with 'we just printed what you sent'?

2 comments

grant_torres•1mo ago

Graphic designer buddy told me my black was 'wrong' and I'm still processing

So last week my friend who does packaging design looked at a flyer I printed and said 'bro, your black is killing me, you're just using 100% K.' I've been doing that for like 10 years, never thought twice about it. He showed me his setup where he uses like 60/40/40/100 for a super rich black and honestly it looks way better on paper. Has anyone else switched to rich black and regretted it when the ink starts bleeding weird on thicker stock?

3 comments

noraj79•1mo ago

I finally hit 4.2 on a press check and realized I was wrong about RGB

For years I swore I could eyeball RGB to CMYK conversions just fine on my monitor. Then last month I was checking a batch of business cards at the print shop in Austin and the numbers read 4.2 delta E from what I uploaded. That's when I finally bought a real color calibration tool and started paying attention to proofing. Has anyone else had a wakeup call from a hard number like that?

2 comments