I am trying to match the top and bottom border colors, (the lighter biege/light brown).
Here's where the concern comes in. I printed a sample on both my printers, I have a HP Deskjet 940c, and an Epson R300. The dark brown color prints out pretty close on both printers, however the border (beige/light brown) color prints out on the HP with a severe greenish tint to it. On the Epson it prints more of a greyish color.
I fiddled around with the CMYK values to where I have a close to what I want match on the biege/brown on the Epson, but the HP still prints out with the greenish tint.
The color that I want and has the closest match on the Epson is: C40 M35 Y45 K10
We will be ordering at least 1000, so I'm really concerned. I had some cards printed with the same company and they came ok but, they did have a very slight greenish tint to them, but still very close to what it should have been.
I guess what I'm asking is what do you guys think I'm doing wrong here. I've never had this problem before, leave it to me to create a color for a website and can't seem to get it right on print.
Any Ideas?
[ February 14, 2005, 02:06 PM: Message edited by: Tony Broussard ]
Posted by Steve Eisenreich (Member # 1444) on :
If you got good prints before then you are more lucky than good. You want to go from web safe colours in RGB to CMYK or if you are having it printed on a printing press then you are asking that those colours be matched in pantone. Your best bet is to sent them your hard copy print and ask them to try and match the colours but I am sure they will not take on a job like this unless they do a trial print and have you sign off on it matching colours is not easy that is why they developed Pantone colours in the print industry to satisfy customers that have specific colour requirements. You should get a pantone colour swatch book and pick your colours that way if they must be perfect. Another thing to think about everyone has a different computer monitor or system setup so that web site colours shows up differently on alot of different peoples computers that is why it is impossible to match a web site colour.
Posted by Tony Broussard (Member # 935) on :
Hi Steve,
The website was created in Corel. The colors used were CMYK, then exported to RGB. I searched the Pantone color palettes but couldn't find the right color.
I've viewed the site on several computers and the color looks the same.
The client wants to get it printed locally, (he's in a hurry) so I'll be able to see a proof, but still want to be sure.
Posted by Steve Eisenreich (Member # 1444) on :
Well if the printer is local have the proof made up and look at it. If you do not have a pantone swatch book talk to the printer and see if he/she has one for you to view. Like I said what you see in your monitor and what gets printed on paper is too totally differnet things. What if I have too monitors side by side and on one the brightness and contrast is adjusted just how I like it and on the other it is not adjusted well your sites colours look different. Which colour is correct is only a guess!
Matching colour is a real science so without using a system like Pantone colour matching you are just guessing. What you see on your uncalibrated monitor is not going to look the same as what prints.
Now you said you got your Epson to print close to what you want but you have to remember that the print company probably will not be using an Epson or a Hp for that matter.
We have a Minolta colour printer here and it prints out a pantone colour chart that I can tell the client to pick the colour they want and then I know I can match that colour.
If they are printing with inks on a press then it is the pressmans job to try and mix the inks to match. Another thing to think about is what type of paper is being printed glossy or not and is the print going to be coated or not all these things affect what the colour will look like after you are done.
Hope this helps you some but I think your only and best bet is to take your hard copy proof with you and see if they can print a proof that is close or look at their pantone chart and pick the colour that is closest to what you want.
I once spent two hours trying to match a green crayon colour on a peice of paper and when I was done it was near perfect to me, but the client still thought it was all wrong. Colour is different in different peoples eyes.
[ February 14, 2005, 04:18 PM: Message edited by: Steve Eisenreich ]
Posted by Curtis hammond (Member # 2170) on :
great advice,, I got some web files to print on my color lasers.. the blues looked more aqua green ,, cyan just didnt translate from web stuff to print stuff at all.
