Ok, So I keep hearing about the need to make your designs print friendly when it comes to business cards and such. But how do you determine this?

 

I have my business cards ready to be printed, see attached and I need to make another set for another company but how do I make sure they'll look as good on card as they do in photoshop, are there guidlines as such to follow?

 

Thanks

 

 

First off, take a look at this.

 

 

You should get the gist of it, but that's the easy way to visualise why colours change when you shift from one colour space model to another. (i.e rbg to cmyk).

 

Their are physical limitations on different mediums. Different printers, ink combinations etc. can also impose a slight variation on the limitation, so it's a good idea to do a little research on your print centres equipment.

Theirs a few general things to take into account, then theirs always specific things to take into account for the desired medium and print method.

 

Things you should find out from your desired printers is how they print, what they use to print with, what they print onto and whatever else you can get from them, as useful or as unuseful as it sounds. The first print jobs always requires a little research.

 

Always ask them, pantone or process.

 

Process is pretty similar to the cmyk system in your home printer.

 

Pantone is specific inks loaded into the print system. The colours are exact. Ideal for larger print runs where a specific colour is crucial. (like cocacola's signature red tone).

 

If they offer a pantone system and you think you may be working with pantone in the future, buy a pantone swatch book. Their a little pricey for what they are, but definetly worth owning. It'll allow you to easily see how you're colours will look when they're printed. Photoshop has some nice pantone swatches built in.

 

Odds are though, they'll use a process print. Process prints are a lot cheaper, but the end product varys in quality. Pantone is far more exact, but you have to pay for that. Pantone prints are very rarely done with more than 3 colours (so no photographs!). 4+

 

Cheap online printers will use a process system. And they'll do gang runs. Several orders, several thousand prints in one go. This allows room for inconsistencies and a slightly sub par finish (expect hues to be slightly wrong, slighly muted colours etc. but if you're making Christmas fliers etc. Sub par is acceptable).

 

Research the companies, i prefer local companies. They let you in, have a look a round. People to talk to, people who know far more about this than i ever will.

 

Local companies are generally more expensive, but you can be assured they're managing the prints themselves, they're unlikely to do gang runs, and best of all, they'll be able to give it that little bit more attention. Perfect for photographs.

 

Bit of a rable their. (sorry!)

 

Here's a simple summary.

 

Ask Questions

Research

Ask any un asked questions

Research

Decide what kind of print you need. (take into account, quality, cost etc.)

Branding/merchandise - Try to stick to pantone where possible, process print. (an example i would use would be business cards)

Higher quality advertising - process Print (an example i would use is brochures)

Fliers - gang runs are acceptable (an example i would use is the little leaflet at the bottom of your shopping basket).

 

Just my $0.02

 

I'm sure others may offer slightly different advice, or (hopefully!) have a lot more to ad

 

Edit: Theirs also offset or digital (plus a few more), if they ask you'll probably want digital (unless you're printing masses, and i mean masses, cocacola style masses)

 

Edit: Also look into prepping files for print. The gist is a digital printer will probably want a pdf at 300dpi+

 

For offset or pantone printing etc. You'll need an ai/eps/quark file that's been colour seperated.

Change your psd to cmyk not rgb, as Bocaj rightly says above.

and ensure it's 300dpi.

Do a color test print at home.

Then the other factors like paper type and quality of the print process.

speak to your printer.

 

To me your colour may come out slightly different unless you use a pantone.(more expensive)

You will lose some of the reflective shadow and the tints near the blue lines.

Again depends on printer, dot gain, paper and your expectations.

Thanks for the advice, I just changed it to cmyk and the colour change was huge, I'll have to play around and see what the closest match is, 'm also using my my local printers so can give them a call monday morning for this info. Thanks again.

Hey..it will look great and give a classy look if you switch on to CYMK color combination. I always use CYMK color combination and the designs get a rich look with this combination.

 

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