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Why the color variations?
- Thread starter myront
- Start date
I always tell customers matching pantone colours isn't normally possible for printing as they are different systems and a CMYK printer cannot exactly replicate most pantones, so there will always be some colour variation. If it essential I will print out some test squares and send them to them to choose the one they like the best. Also of course a lot of customers think a colour on a PC screen will look the same as the printed output with no understanding of how brightness and contrast controls etc... change them
weyandsign
New Member
If you print out a swatch chart in 10% increments it's very helpful in color matching.
myront
Dammit, make it faster!!
Uh...they just sent a new version of their logo and you'll never guess! Color values are more off than before. Now their eps file reads Pantone 144 C, C11 M55 Y100 K1, Hex #DE8703. I told 'em we'll use the cmyk values and you get what you get. lol
Also sent them a snip from their own guidelines pdf. Corporate has to approve the design but the client is "designing" thru me. She wanted to do it herself in Canva but...
Don't even get me started!
Also sent them a snip from their own guidelines pdf. Corporate has to approve the design but the client is "designing" thru me. She wanted to do it herself in Canva but...
Don't even get me started!
JBurton
Signtologist
So that's what my corel pms pallet spits out for pms 144C.
One of the banes of my life is customers with colour matching. When they send you a photograph of something they have and say can you match this colour....
The only meaningful specifications of a color are either a L*a*b* number or a spectral reflectance distribution.
You get these by actually measuring the color, or by having access to Pantone's L*a*b* specifications for
their various swatches. If someone provides you with an image file as their specification, get the L*a*b* number
from the image file.
You may want to read: https://www.projectbbcg.guide , which provides some useful information
about how color measurement using a spectrophotometer is important. That ultimately means
buying something like an Xrite i1pro2(as long as xrite continues to provide repair/calibration services
for it) or i1pro3.
You get these by actually measuring the color, or by having access to Pantone's L*a*b* specifications for
their various swatches. If someone provides you with an image file as their specification, get the L*a*b* number
from the image file.
You may want to read: https://www.projectbbcg.guide , which provides some useful information
about how color measurement using a spectrophotometer is important. That ultimately means
buying something like an Xrite i1pro2(as long as xrite continues to provide repair/calibration services
for it) or i1pro3.
chester215
Just call me Chester.
JBurton
Signtologist
I like this, but I wish they'd offer an 'average' color for the whole area within a sample region. What appears to be a solid color is made up of different colors stippled across an area, especially something stupid like a picture of stucco or EFIS.
Gino
Premium Subscriber
This kinda stuff always makes me laugh. We're talking about matching a color E X A C T L Y when the color charts can't do it, the websites can't do it...... nobody can do it and when you're in a different linda light, they change. Ya get as close to the color as possible, but 100% matching in impossible.
bob
It's better to have two hands than one glove.
Print a Pantone color chart and hang it on the wall. That's what you can print, pick something close. If what you want lies between two colors on the chart, choose the darker of the two. Never forget that what comes out of the printer is the truth, absolutely nothing else is.
JBurton
Signtologist
The key is being able to make the customer understand that, without making them feel stupid, deceived, or combative. In my experience, they are either super laid back, or one of the prior 3.
Geneva Olson
Expert Storyteller
I love this thread so much.
Solventinkjet
DIY Printer Fixing Guide
This or if you're using Flexi, use the color mapping tool. You pick the pantone you want to match, it prints out a chart of a range of colors around that pantone, you pick which one that looks like it the most, and then from that point on Flexi maps that color to that pantone. Pretty useful in these situations.
Solventinkjet
DIY Printer Fixing Guide
You can do this in Photoshop in case you didn't know. In the eye dropper settings you can specify how many pixels to sample and it will give you the average color of the sample.
gnubler
Active Member
Amen!
I don't offer exact color matching. I tell customers the color will be close, so far everyone is fine with that.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the human eye varies in how they see colors. I had a job recently with some brown elements in the logo that the customer complained about because they "look green". I had kept an extra as a sample and it didn't look green to me, nor did the print file look green on screen.
I find when customers are mega fussy about a specific colour, normally because their 'designer' has designed it with a pantone colour then if you print out something close they can't tell the difference anyway.
And it always seems to be oranges or greens, which are the worst colours for CYMK printers to try and match!
And it always seems to be oranges or greens, which are the worst colours for CYMK printers to try and match!
Gino
Premium Subscriber
It's also among the top 4 colors to distinguish if you're slightly or fully color blind. I'm color blind, but I've learned to substitute colors and can still mix or blend colors almost spot on. I might not see the colors as YOU see them, but I can mix up what I see and be absolutely dead balls on.