Re: generic CMYK
Re: generic CMYK
- Subject: Re: generic CMYK
- From: Marco Ugolini <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 02:08:30 -0400 (EDT)
Randy Zaucha wrote:
>Printer's who tell their clients to give them CMYK files
>set themselves up for "generic quality" work.
Not necessarily. Only if they ask for "CMYK files" without specifying WHICH CMYK, namely which print specifications they commit themselves to matching on their presses (such as those reflected in an ICC profile like US Web Coated (SWOP) v2, for example).
Any printing company worth their salt ought to be able to offer stable print conditions to their customers, ones that don't vary from day to day, week to week, etc.
As long as some form of reliable and consistent process control is in place at the printers, and as long as it produces known print results, then a knowledgeable operator can perform viable separations on the client side.
>One would assume that there are no color separation experts
>at those companies to perform color separation.
>The only exception would be letting the client convert
>using the profile from a very well profiled press.
Ideal, but not practical in the great majority of cases. Most often, the best that can be expected is that the print vendor is actually able to match a known set of print specifications on a regular and dependable basis. Better still if those print specifications are those reflected in a widely-used CMYK ICC output profile.
My bottom line is that the printers should not expect the client to trust them blindly, not a knowledgeable client at least, or one who has a knowledgeable production person taking care of his work for him/her. The best results are those that are closest to what the client wants, not to what the printers find it convenient to provide, which latter thing can prove to be rather arbitrary.
ICC color-managed workflows offer more control to the client side over the final quality of the work on the printed sheet, and a savvy client should hold on to that advantage and the edge that it provides, not give it up in return for unclear results.
The printers ought to be the ones to adapt to that reality -- instead of pushing to have the balance turned the other way around, specially if this ends up limiting the client's options by failing to provide reliable output within reasonably set tolerances.
Some printers don't like to be pinned down to a known set of expectations, lest they lose their perceived "competitive edge". My advice to the client, when I meet such a printer, is to look for another vendor.
Marco Ugolini
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