Can we talk about how I used to design posters just on screen vs now with print proofs?

I used to just slap a poster design together in Illustrator and call it done after looking at it on my monitor. After I moved to Portland last year, I started printing actual color proofs on my local shop's Epson, and it showed me how wrong my screen colors were. The blue I picked came out as purple on the test print, so I had to redo the whole thing for a client deadline. Anyone else deal with screen-to-print color fails like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

patricia3855d ago

Oh man, "forgot how colors work" is the perfect way to put it. I had this bright coral I was super proud of for a poster for a local music show. Printed the proof and it came out this flat, sad salmon color. I just sat there holding the paper, tilting it in the light, like maybe if I squinted it would magically turn back into coral. It didn't. I had to go back and bump the saturation way up and add a little yellow to the mix just to get it to look closer to what I wanted on screen. It's wild how much difference a print shop's paper and ink profile makes. Now I literally print proofs for everything, even if it's just a little flyer for a friend's band, because I can't trust my monitor at all anymore.

the_richard5d ago

Ngl my first time printing a proof I had a bright green that came out looking like swamp water. I sat there staring at it for a good five minutes feeling like I forgot how colors work.