nancy3•7d ago

Can we talk about the color shift I saw on a commercial run last month?

I've been doing prepress for 15 years, but this one caught me off guard. I had a client's brochure come back from the press looking totally different than the proof. Their neon orange turned into a dull rust brown. I tracked it down to their supplier switching paper stocks without telling anyone. The old stock was a bright white coated sheet, the new one was a warm uncoated paper. That change alone sucked the life out of the vibrant spot colors. We had to redo 2,000 pieces at the last minute. Have any of you had a paper switch ruin a job like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

avery3667d agoMost Upvoted

Spent the whole weekend last year chasing a ghost shift like this. Turned out the client's "neon lime green" was a spot color that looked totally different on their fancy coated proof versus the matte uncoated stock the printer actually used. Had to eat the cost on 500 business cards because nobody bothered to tell anyone about the switch. Never trust a paper supplier who says "it's basically the same" without a proof.

burns.brooke7d ago

Oh man, this hits way too close to home (honestly, it's like you were in my head). Had a similar nightmare last fall where we trusted a supplier's word on a "cream" paper that turned out to be almost yellow under the shop lights. We printed 200 wedding invites before anyone realized the color was totally off. The worst part? The client's proof looked perfect because they'd printed it on coated stock at home. Ended up redoing the whole batch on the right paper and just praying the bride didn't notice the difference in the final wedding photos. That supplier is still on my "do not call" list.