Printing Gold, that comes out Green?

[JoshFrench]

Hi,

I am a graphic designer, and for one client I have continued to use a colour which is like a dull gold, but with some printing companies I have used, it comes out green, like a Pea Green. This might be a simple solution, but I have no idea what will work. Hoping that there is a way I can slightly tweak the CMYK qualities so the colour stays similar and removes the turning green problem with certain printers.

The CMYK code is: C30 M33 Y64 K2

Hopefully someone can help me out as I have limited knowledge about printing processes.

Josh

 

[Greg_Firestone]

Hi Josh,

That color build should be pretty straight forward. I have a couple questions:

Does the printer provide you a hard copy proof? If so, is the gold green in the proof?
What type of paper on you printing on? (paper can effect color)
What ICC profile are you using when providing the printer a file?

I'm sure there will be some more questions from people. The more we know, the better we can diagnose and make a suggestion.

Greg

 

[JoshFrench]

Hi Greg,

Thanks for getting back to me.

My client uses all sorts of printers I just supply them the artwork that they request and a lot of the printing they do is in China.

To my knowledge they don't receive hard copy proofs, just digital proofs, that obviously look the gold I built. For example there were some self adhesive stickers printed that were really green! They are on a White Vinyl. Had some flyers printed on 350gsm Silk Coated paper stock today and they came out slightly green. But I don't know about the printing from China, also have packaging printed with same problem which is printed onto white card.

In regards to the ICC profile, I don't know. I produce the files in Adobe Photoshop, and save as High Res PDF's.

I have attached some artwork I have done as a jpeg, I don't know if that will help?

Let me know if you need anymore information.

Thanks

Josh

 

[JoshFrench]

U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2 ???

 

[John W]

Change the gold breakout to a GCR Max version using no cyan, only M,Y,K and your gold will never turn that green! QED
John W

 

[MailGuru]

Too many variables here. If it's being job out to different printers, that compounds the problem as you have no control over how, and, when they callibrate their machines. Also, all different papers, depending on the manufacturer, the make, the thickness, etc, have different "white points". For instance, the exact same CMYK values will look different on 70# Cougar Cover than they will on 70# Sterling Cover. Whoever you are submitting your artwork to needs to get a handle on uniformity and consistency of print

 

[Lennyr]

I print a lot of cmyk golds and I can't imagine using C30. Way too much cyan. Printing cmyk metallics is not a science, its an art. Even the builds in a pantone swatch library don't print the same as they look on screen. Magenta is usually too low and cyan is usually too high.
Get rid of some cyan. Even if it doesn't look right on screen or for that matter on your proofs.

 

[Greg_Firestone]

Hi Josh,

That's correct, you're using U.S. Web Coated (SWOP). This is generally the default CMYK ICC profile in the US when you install Adobe products. It's actually geared towards web offset publications (e.g. magazines) and assumes certain inks and paper types are used. A good resource is here: http://www.idealliance.org/sites/default/files/SWOP2007errata.pdf.

You mentioned the files get printed on various devices including white vinyl. Sound like they are being printed digital or even flexo (for labels). The SWOP profile is probably not the best profile for this. I agree with what mailguru said in that there are a lot of variables to deal with.

Do your customers know who will print the piece before you design it? If so, see if they can provide you contact details so you can find out from the printer directly what profiles they recommend. If this isn't possible, it makes it a bit more challenging especially if they are not providing proofs. Most printers really appreciate when people call asking for specs. While it will be more work for you, it is added service you'd bring to your customers and could cut down on issues.

Have the printers provided any feedback?

Greg