How paper can critically affect the colour of your printed product
Have you ever had a client ask you why their marketing material hasn’t printed the colour they requested?
Their first reaction is normally to point the finger in the direction of the designer, and here I explain how printing can go wrong.
In one instance they’re absolutely correct to place blame upon the designer, because chance are they haven’t been educated how different paper stocks produce different tones from exactly the same colour of ink. Graphic designers, amongst many other professions, take on the role of teacher to give their client an understanding of critical factors such as this one.
Colour control is important even when colour ink isn’t used. A black ink can appear to contain colour when printed on a colour substrate.
Remember, the grade, grain and colour of paper used affects the colour of the ink.
Also, the light source under which you’re looking at the printed product can dramatically affect the colour tone. It reminds me of how supermarkets distort the colour of their meat displays with different lighting, giving it a fresher appearance.
If you select a colour from a colour swatch book and ask 100 printers to print it, you could well get 100 different tones. If you don’t have a swatch book and are thinking of picking one up, here are some useful pointers for before you buy PANTONE colour guides.
Always, always ask your printer for a proof before signing-off on your print job. Make it a hard copy (or digital proof) too, which should usually be included in the price of the project. A PDF proof will not show you the results of how your colour prints.
Have you always been happy with the colour of your print material?
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Blimey, i diddnt know that paper could effect the way the final product turns out.
You learn something new every day!
– Andy –
allsortgroup.com
Well said. Our teachers said that before choosing which print shop to have out stuff printed at we should have them print out samples so we can see how certain inks will be printed on different kinds of paper. Every printer will print differently, so it sucks when the designer gets crap about something the client knows nothing about.
I work in corporate communications / marketing so I do a fair bit of this. Generally I leave managing the print to the designers and only once have I been unsatisfied. And that was my fault really as it was a new designer and I didn’t specify exactly what kind of stock I expected.
I used another designer in Brighton recently who even sent me a book of paper examples with the same design printed on them, so I could see how the stock affected the colours and choose accordingly.
That’s fascinating.. I had no idea.
I think the key is to see if you like the design on different mediums, period, not to see if the design looks the absolute same from one medium to another, because it won’t, as you point out here.
My flatmate is a photography student and has one of the fancy-schmancy printers and has calibrated his screens to work with photo colours. Even so, no printed photo is exactly like its screen version.
I’m not too late to say thanks, am I? Oh boy. Sorry for the delay! I don’t think I was as quick on the draw back at the start of 2007.