Color Management Fundamentals

CKL

Well-known member
Warning-I work in the Press-room
I am looking for the Pre-press, Sales and Designer's perspective on file prep for color matching.

We have ran some jobs recently for the same customer where a process build of a blue has been used for what I would call a brand color. The blue build has been inconsistent within the job itself from page to page and inconsistent across multiple jobs. I tried to create a standard for the blue build to minimize the color variance but the sales person was told not to adjust their files by the customer.

We are talking about variances of 2 to 3 %. E.g. (58 % M vs 61 % M) + (25 % K vs 28% K) etc.
Do you guys correct proc. builds to print the same ?
With or without asking ?
Are you charging them color corrections ?
Do designers think the blue will match on Press with different builds in the book that crossover?

When Sales asks "Why does it look so full compared to the sample?" I have to pull up all the job numbers, have prep open the files and write down the builds and show the Sales person the sample he has is 3 % lighter on Cyan and Magenta so we appear to be printing heavier than last months newsletter.

So when we print additional projects and pieces for this customer the CSR has Press instructions to match to the previous newsletter or match Job # XYZ
But Job # XYZ might have been built differently so again I have to pull up the job numbers, have prep open the files and write down the builds locate the proper sample for the Press-room.

I would like to hear your thoughts and suggestions

This has become a bottleneck for the Press and IMHO it should be done upstream somewhere.

Thank you
 
My 2 cents after many years in prepress and design - I prefer to always correct improper builds while prepping the files. Along with incorrect bleeds, rich black instead of pure black, etc, etc. Sometimes you can end up with color mismatches due to CMYK and RGB swatches being used in the same document. I usually don't ask unless I know it's going to be an issue with the customer.

Do you think it's mainly an issue of the customer not knowing how to properly set up the files? If that's the case perhaps the sales rep and/or prepress can educate them on the importance of correct color builds?
 
Usually there's a signed off proof that your presswork should align itself to.
That's where the customer is supposed to check the results of their file and make any needed corrections.

It's not up to prepress (nor pressroom) to edit or check for possible errors in the customer's files - unless they've been specifically asked to do so by the customer. Preparing a file for press by adding bleed or converting to rich black is not the same as editing the file for aesthetic reasons (e.g. consistent logo)
If prepress happens to notice what appears to be an error then they may question the customer about it but are under no obligation to do so.
If the customer complains about the color mismatches then they can be shown the source file with the different color builds and prepress can, as a goodwill gesture, offer some guidance about ensuring consistency.

Have a backbone.
 
CKL,

Thoughtful post. I appreciate that you think critically of the process in which your company's prepress engages. Especially being from the other side of the wall!

So based solely on what you've presented, I would guess that perhaps not enough thought in the results of final output was understood by your prepress. And I would venture to say that is typical. Even where I work. All too often, Sales and/or some of our graphics people wrongly assume that "the press" will take care of it. But not in my world! I know we need to provide people like you with the best chance of reproducing what the client expects.

And mostly because of that, our prepress approach is to establish a client's expectations (i.e. colors, etc). We catalog our client's branding guides. We include printed samples, copious notes and methods to ensure downstream instructions are followed. We will call out and correct issues. Rarely does a client ask us not to. A little time-consuming at first, but after the first couple jobs, our team has very clear marching orders. File process times are expeditious and almost as quick as those not requiring the hand-holding.
 
Just my opinion but I think the file prep is different because it comes from different sources through out the life of an account, those sources make their color build selections differently. The initial project always goes well, everyone is heavily involved and gives feed back about their "previous printer short comings", prior campaign's color drift etc.

We go to press with job # 1 and match to the approved proof during a press check, everyone is happy. I review the color after a 24 hr. dry back period. I look for color shifts that may have occurred that might need special Press-room attention in the future. Ask the sales person to review the color again in a dry state to confirm they still agree with the customers original sign-off decision and that no further adjustments need to be made.

The customer does not return for any future projects, the sales person states during the job # 1 press check "This will be our color standard for the future"

Jobs # 2 - #14 continue to come through visually matching on press to the approved color proof and referencing job # 1 for customer approved printed sample. Job # 15 comes through and the pressman runs the ink density +/- .10 on C,M & K and leaves me a note saying. "Had trouble with the color looking like job # 1, something is not right" "Its been pulled"

At this point jobs # 1 - # 14 have not received any complaints. However I see a visual difference on the sheets left from the make-ready on job # 15. The files are looked at and Prep makes an attempt to explain the technical details to me about why the builds are different. I report to the Sales person we need to fix the files to match the brand color. I am told a few hours later "Run it, the job is late" This continues to routinely occur, I eventually stop asking.

I am invited to a customer meeting to review account status. During the meeting someone brings up some color inconsistency they have seen over the past year. I tell them "Lets talk about this offline I don't want to bog the team meeting down with technical details" They continue to ask so I tell them "Its about your inability to mange your internal design staff and/or standards" The sales person quickly moves on to the next action item. After the meeting I ask sales if we are doing anything different moving forward?

"Probably not, I will let you know" "Please do not pull jobs for color build variance"
 
[SNIP]

I am invited to a customer meeting to review account status. During the meeting someone brings up some color inconsistency they have seen over the past year. I tell them "Lets talk about this offline I don't want to bog the team meeting down with technical details" They continue to ask so I tell them "Its about your inability to mange your internal design staff and/or standards" The sales person quickly moves on to the next action item. After the meeting I ask sales if we are doing anything different moving forward?

"Probably not, I will let you know" "Please do not pull jobs for color build variance"

I hope this: "Its about your inability to mange your internal design staff and/or standards" is not what you actually said. It would give the sales rep chest pains as it's a direct criticism of the customer.

It's a simple story to tell the customer and you don't have to bog them down with details.

The color on press is determined by the original color specifications in the file.
If the original color specifications in the file are not consistent then the color on press won't be consistent.
It appears that the original color specifications in the files that you sent us are not consistent.
The result is inconsistent color on press.

You could add:

We can help your document creators be consistent with their color specifications in the files they create.
Our sales rep can help set that up for you if you like.

After the meeting you can go to the washroom and clean the brown smudge off your nose LOL.
 
You'd hope that reps would be capable of translating pre-press' straight talk into helpful advice, but it's rarely been the case in my experience. I've heard "oh, so you want me to tell them they're idiots?" or similar plenty of times.
 
I work for a small commercial shop with both offset and digital printing, and I am responsible for prepping files for both platforms. We have an internal design staff, and I would say 80% of our print work comes to us from them. The other 20% comes directly from our customers.

The majority of files I receive internally rarely have consistent color builds, even though the design staff understands the importance of this. It's my job to make sure that the correct color builds are sent out to the pressroom and digital press.

As far as outside files, the expectation is that any inconsistencies are corrected before proofs are run. We've tried the "teach the client" approach on how to build correct files, but it never seems to work.

On another note is photos/images. I have found that I usually need to do some color correcting to these types of files. Sometimes the worst offenders can be stock photos.
 
Sorry, I don't understand this:

...We have an internal design staff, and I would say 80% of our print work comes to us from them.

The majority of files I receive internally rarely have consistent color builds, even though the design staff understands the importance of this.

If the files are coming from an internal source and you have this problem then something is very wrong with your organization. If anyone should be delivering 100% perfect files it should be an internal design team. IMHO, management needs to go to that design group and in the words of Rowdy Roddy Piper tell the team: "I'm here to chew bubblegum and kick butt - and I'm fresh out of bubblegum"
 

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