Re: Color "matching"
Re: Color "matching"
- Subject: Re: Color "matching"
- From: CitizenRay <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 21:52:41 -0700
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Admittedly, today's ColorSync technology is much better than what came
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before.
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Confronted though by clients who insist that "we've never had this
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problem before & we've never had to pay for color matching," then
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supply digital files in CMYK, frequently with Pantone Solid Coated
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colors called for & chips included, I wonder what others experiences
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are: do print providers (offset, service bureau, wide-format, photo
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lab, whatever) routinely absorb the costs associated with color
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matching?
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Is it reasonable to ask an additional fee for getting a close match to
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a supplied color sample when the cost of doing the project is proposed
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on a "print the file as received" basis?
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Add then senior designers who insist on red-painted office walls and
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south-facing windows behind their monitors, who buy the Pantone-to-RGB
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color equivalent swatchbook & wonder why, when they choose a color &
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plug the corresponding RGB values into an Illustrator file, don't get
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matching colors back on their comps?
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SP Clark
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Chicago
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I can tell you with a qualified answer of "Yes, color matching is a
chargeable item/service.," as I provide all the above image products:
offset, service bureau, wide-format, and photolab.
It's easy to explain PMS color values are specific to certain materials and
conditions as stated on the book itself. It seems most designers were absent
from class the day this was covered.
Offset is relatively easy, view one side of the process color book if you
want the process color version of the PMS, view the other side of the book
and pay for the PMS ink and separations if you're so inclined. Make sure the
files are prepared correctly or they will need some work.
As a service bureau, color matching is one of my services so I charge for
that service. I have always charged for that service and some of my
competitors did not charge it but they are no longer in business. Obviously,
the color service needed to be performed and it cost them. It cost them too
much.
Practically all of my wide-format customers who are ad agency or design
studios have never balked at color match service fees. Wide-format is
usually large, exhibited to a large audience, contain logo colors and
corporate theme graphics, and they need that corporate image to be
consistant with their offset materials. They understand it may take
additional work to make colors match on unusual substrates like vinyl or
fabric. Most files I receive from agencies are properly prepared and are
accompanied with a decent color "go-by." I do have issues with some files
from sign shops and fine artists. They usually supply a go-by imaged from an
inkjet printer that is not color managed and often, not even calibrated.
It's a simple matter for me to image their file on my Xerox Doc 12 (at no
charge to them) to show them their file needs work. They always buy my color
match service.
In the photolab business there has always been at least three levels of
color correction service. Sometimes termed as machine color, custom color,
and repro color, with higher costs respectively. I even do large photo
murals for other photolabs and they pay for color matching because they know
exactly what I'm against and appreciate the service and the time savings to
them.
Many years ago, a photolab would supply a print of PMS color chips to show
how they would reproduce on various print materials using different photo
film types. The lack of accuracy was immediately apparent and it was obvious
to professionals that special attention to color reproduction was in order.
Sometimes an art director was savvy and could control the color, sometimes
it was the photographer, sometimes a graphic artist, but in the end, they
all relied on the color house or photolab to fix it if required and the fix
was chargeable.
It behooves anyone in the imaging business to provide a printed sample of
PMS colors from the device to show how that color would reproduce so the
customer has a tool to build their file if they choose to.
BTW, impossible viewing conditions are what I see most, then color laser or
inkjet proofing devices that are drastically misleading, then monitors which
are incorrectly calibrated.
-Stephen Ray
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