Is it possible to achieve bright orange using CMYK

[CopySolutions]

I have been trying to achieve a bright orange colour on our xerox 8000 digital press
the colour we are trying to match is similar to a high vis orange (almost flourescent)

Im pretty sure its not possible but would be interested to hear any suggestions.

Thanks.

 

[MrKarter77]

In short, no

What usage do you need it for? is it a spot or a background?

Not sure if its possible, could you print the rest of the job in CMYK and get an offset press to print PMS804 overprint?

 

[CopySolutions]

Thanks Karter...

its a spot for a business card the colour is 165U. They only want a small run so offset overprint is out of the question (or out of their budget)

Thanks

 

[MrKarter77]

Thanks Karter...

its a spot for a business card the colour is 165U. They only want a small run so offset overprint is out of the question (or out of their budget)

Thanks

Are they celloglazed? if they are on a budget then possibly youll have to match as closely as possible, if you have access then maybe a matte cello will hide the (fluro) somewhat?

edit: just looked at colour books, not as hard to match as i though, (i was assuming bright fluro), what rip do you have?

 

[Kostagh]

Putting it into one short word, as well said above, no! I had the same problem when printing for Orange (the mobile phone company) on a wet offset press. We had to use spot colour or otherwise there would be no "orange" in the Orange logo.
Forget trying CMYK. Use spot. If it's a valued customer, I mean one that you can expect orders from in the long run, pay for the spot separation yourself, even if it means forfaiting your profits (keeping in mind that it's a short run!). Tell the customer about it however, and explain why CMYK is impossible. I'm sure they'll appreciate it. We've done the same thing with several customers and we've gained business and appreciation from them. Good luck!

 

[X33]

Forget trying CMYK. Use spot. If it's a valued customer, I mean one that you can expect orders from in the long run, pay for the spot separation yourself, even if it means forfaiting your profits (keeping in mind that it's a short run!). Tell the customer about it however, and explain why CMYK is impossible. I'm sure they'll appreciate it. We've done the same thing with several customers and we've gained business and appreciation from them. Good luck!

I agree. Explain it to them and charge them more if they still want it.

 

[Craig]

Buy in a Pantone Bridge so you can show the customer how the colors convert to CMYK.

 

[UberTech]

If you have an ES1000 you should download i1share this a free download. You load your engines output profle into it and sample the colour you want to print. This will tell you if it is within gamut for your machine or not.

Alternativly (again if you have a es1000) if you have a fiery you can go to spot colour management create a spot colour sampled from the target, if it is out of gamut then there will be a ! displayed.

Bright fluro colours using this process can only be possible with the High Chroma model from KM. But I wouldn't go buying a machine just for one customer, thats for sure.

 

[MrKarter77]

I have a pantone chart so you can print it from your machine to see what each spot comes out like, i can email if you like?

 

[GusG]

If a company has an impossible (for CMYK) colour in their corporate identity then they really ought to have the budget to do it right

 

[MrKarter77]

If a company has an impossible (for CMYK) colour in their corporate identity then they really ought to have the budget to do it right

Designers from other companies don't realize that you can't just print any colours... Remember not every one is a printer... Alot of the time exposing the process and reasoning to the client is enough to keep them happy

 

[GusG]

Designers from other companies don't realize that you can't just print any colours... Remember not every one is a printer... Alot of the time exposing the process and reasoning to the client is enough to keep them happy

Any designer worth his salt ought to know that not all colours are printable using CMYK. I make sure my designers spend time in an offset printery so that they understand what they are working towards and most especially the limits, otherwise they are effectively working blindly.

 

[Craig]

Any designer worth his salt ought to know that not all colours are printable using CMYK. I make sure my designers spend time in an offset printery so that they understand what they are working towards and most especially the limits, otherwise they are effectively working blindly.

Well said Guss!

 

[X33]

I have a pantone chart so you can print it from your machine to see what each spot comes out like, i can email if you like?

this can be helpful:
Pantone Color Charts | Xerox Small and Medium Businesses

print them on different stocks in your own machine.

 

[MrKarter77]

Any designer worth his salt ought to know that not all colours are printable using CMYK. I make sure my designers spend time in an offset printery so that they understand what they are working towards and most especially the limits, otherwise they are effectively working blindly.

Not every designer is worth it though... and not every designer works for a printer... or has access to work in an offset or even a digital print shop....

 

[GusG]

Not every designer is worth it though... and not every designer works for a printer... or has access to work in an offset or even a digital print shop....

That's fine if you only do web design. But if you are designing for print media you are obliged to know what you are doing and as a designer you must seek out the required knowledge. Otherwise you are educating yourself by trial and error at your clients' cost and that is not acceptable. If you design for print and you don't have a printer then you are sending jobs out to print and you have a relationship with one or more printers who in almost all cases will let you spend time with them to understand what they do, it's in their interest too.

You don't have to own a Rolls Royce to be a Rolls Royce mechanic but you d... well have to know the ins and outs of it! And you don't get to be a brain surgeon without some minimum knowledge in the area. Why should it be any different for designers?

If a client is so cheap that he seeks out the lowest cost chap who fancies himself a designer because he has a computer with MS Publisher in his bedroom, then he is himself a large part of the problem. I have lots of people come to my shop to fix what some cowboy has messed up because they thought they were saving a bundle. They end up paying twice and I'm quietly chuckling as I try to keep a straight face. But the next time they inevitably comes back to me and get it right the first time while the cowboy ends up loosing business.

 

[LoweringTheBar]

We've used fluorescent process inks to offset print vibrant CMYK images, including oranges, on uncoated stock and it worked quite well.

 

[David Kunkel]

PMS 165 is pretty far out of the CMYK gamut. You'll get an orangey-brown at best. In very short run I've touched up similar projects with markers. Can you have them run off as a two- or three-color spot ink job? Other solutions are to run it on a six-color inkjet, if the quantities are small enough.