Heard a client say 'just make it pop' and realized they meant neon green

I was sitting in on a kickoff meeting last Tuesday at a coffee shop downtown, and this guy kept saying he wanted his brochure to 'pop'. I asked him what he meant, and he pointed to a lime green sign across the street. Turns out he thought RGB neon and CMYK print would look the same. I had to explain that his screen brightness doesn't transfer to paper. And he got MAD about it. Now I'm wondering how many folks think their monitor shows what the press will spit out. Has anyone else had this argument with a client and how did you handle it without sounding like a jerk?

2 comments

2 Comments

emma_ramirez2d ago

Used to think screen colors printed the same, but @brown.susan convinced me otherwise with that swatch book story.

brown.susan4d ago

Yeah the 'screen brightness doesn't transfer to paper' thing is a lesson I've had to teach more times than I can count. I had a client last spring who insisted their logo was a specific shade of electric blue, and when the proof came back from the printer they actually accused me of changing the color. I had to pull up their monitor settings and show them the brightness was cranked to max. The whole thing took an hour. People really don't get that screens glow and paper just sits there reflecting light. I handled it by bringing in a printed color swatch book and doing a side by side comparison. That shut them up pretty fast.