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so I have been popping around the different POD  sites as I make iterations of this deck of cards.

 

They keep proofing too dark. As in way to dark, I have done this a bit on the print shop end and it wasn't adding up (it still isn't)

 

So this time for a frame of reference I used specific color s that could be checked against. The green of the card is the exact panatone color chip as the Michigan State Spartans.....

but when the cards came in they are such a dark green they are almost black. I wasn't crazy, and it is not my computer's display (which is what the 1001 suggestions and responses I got from EVERYONE were).

 

This deck is from MPC but really same thing from drive through and printer's studio ( i am not wasting money on each to prove it, but it is fairly obvious.).My guess is this is an issue of POD and using ink jet printers. This wouldn't happen with offset printing  since you are mixing and looking right at the ink, you would see it was almost black

  :(

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I am sorry - mine from PS have always been exactly as I intended. Do you set your colours for RGB or CMYK ? It can make a huge difference....

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what gregory said it's RGB (aka digital screen colors that are made of RedGreenBlue+light!:)

to CMYK(aka printed colors that usually end up much darker printed!) mostly noticable with *light green &blue? (aka printer will usually flatten allyour greens to dark;// & light blue will have less hue, had same issue when i printed my 2st oracle deck here is my blog review; http://creativenlight.blogspot.com/2015/09/chakra-lenormand-poker-plastic-linen.html

to give you bestidea how your colors will lok printed is to convert/save printed colors option as CMYK (I belive correct print standard is U.S web coated (swop) v2 ?;)

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hmm I figured it out, thanks for your suggestions...so thi sis what it was

 

someone got on my machine and changed the brightness to auto adjust. Also i put a new window in the kitchen where i had been working. So unwittingly I have been working with my screen at full brightness rather than my calibrated settings.

 

I turned my screen back to normal and there it was a green so dark it was black. I will have to kick the brightness back down to set the colors up

 

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That'll definitely do it! I have my monitor at work calibrated, but in the afternoon when the sun is coming in I do not do anything color-critical! And even a calibrated monitor is backlit, so never quite the same as on paper.

 

Also, be sure you're looking at a Pantone CMYK build, not a Pantone ink chip, and on the same type of stock (coated or uncoated) as your stuff will be printing. Not all pantone colors can be accurately recreated as CMYK - especially neons, metallics, or anything with a large amount of transparent white in the mix.

 

I do find inkjet printing does tend to run slightly darker than offset or toner, usually.

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Ha ha! That's so funny solution!:) that's why I always keep my screen brightness at minimum (save your eyes as well!:) & no auto light(but it still flicker sometimes!;//)

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That'll definitely do it! I have my monitor at work calibrated, but in the afternoon when the sun is coming in I do not do anything color-critical! And even a calibrated monitor is backlit, so never quite the same as on paper.

 

Also, be sure you're looking at a Pantone CMYK build, not a Pantone ink chip, and on the same type of stock (coated or uncoated) as your stuff will be printing. Not all pantone colors can be accurately recreated as CMYK - especially neons, metallics, or anything with a large amount of transparent white in the mix.

 

I do find inkjet printing does tend to run slightly darker than offset or toner, usually.

 

 

we are really pondering using panatone metallic for the cards. the wife got a deck of playing cards and that is what she wanted. i have been using regular color chips for the design process though. Figure I iwill swap out the specific color at the end when we send it our for proof, the metallics have pretty close variations inthe CMYK chips

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we are really pondering using panatone metallic for the cards. the wife got a deck of playing cards and that is what she wanted. i have been using regular color chips for the design process though. Figure I iwill swap out the specific color at the end when we send it our for proof, the metallics have pretty close variations inthe CMYK chips

I'd definitely check in with the printer - the Pantone metallics have shimmer in them, and that'll never come through in CMYK. Silver will just be gray, and gold sometimes has a tendency to go green, so you'll want to be very careful with the builds to approximate them well. It can be done, we do it often on our digital press, but you just want to watch the builds so they don't go too far off what you're aiming for.

 

If you're printing offset 4-color plus a spot color, you can use an actual metallic Pantone which is great - but also check with the printer. There's often a slight up-charge for metallic inks, partly because of their increased cost, and partly because they are really sticky (and more opaque than most inks) and the press wash-up is more difficult after running a metallic.

 

HOWEVER - Some digital presses now run a 5th color, and metallics are available for some of them! I don't think Ricoh has them yet, but the same basic machine in the Heidelberg labeling I think does. It's a toner process, and I think some of them have metallic silver and gold available (and all with the 5th station should get those eventually). They also have gloss clear, white (we had those two until we upgraded to a more robust machine without the 5th station), and neon colors. It's not cheap (the white toner was $500 a bottle...) but if you can find a printer with metallics on their machine they will likely be eager to print something like that for you! It's a pretty new thing and I know most printers that have invested in the machine really want to sell these 5th color options.

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we are really pondering using panatone metallic for the cards. the wife got a deck of playing cards and that is what she wanted. i have been using regular color chips for the design process though. Figure I iwill swap out the specific color at the end when we send it our for proof, the metallics have pretty close variations inthe CMYK chips

I'd definitely check in with the printer - the Pantone metallics have shimmer in them, and that'll never come through in CMYK. Silver will just be gray, and gold sometimes has a tendency to go green, so you'll want to be very careful with the builds to approximate them well. It can be done, we do it often on our digital press, but you just want to watch the builds so they don't go too far off what you're aiming for.

 

If you're printing offset 4-color plus a spot color, you can use an actual metallic Pantone which is great - but also check with the printer. There's often a slight up-charge for metallic inks, partly because of their increased cost, and partly because they are really sticky (and more opaque than most inks) and the press wash-up is more difficult after running a metallic.

 

HOWEVER - Some digital presses now run a 5th color, and metallics are available for some of them! I don't think Ricoh has them yet, but the same basic machine in the Heidelberg labeling I think does. It's a toner process, and I think some of them have metallic silver and gold available (and all with the 5th station should get those eventually). They also have gloss clear, white (we had those two until we upgraded to a more robust machine without the 5th station), and neon colors. It's not cheap (the white toner was $500 a bottle...) but if you can find a printer with metallics on their machine they will likely be eager to print something like that for you! It's a pretty new thing and I know most printers that have invested in the machine really want to sell these 5th color options.

 

 

thanks for the advice, it is really a joy to hear from experience, and it really is time to send this off to the printer.

 

to be honest the colors in the most particular sense do not matter with this deck. As long as they look good together. The art is all vector base, i used pantone chips to give the artist at the card company a relatively close feel for what I was looking for. We chose The Expert Playing Card Company to do this, so we know from their other work that their in house artist are very trust worthy in the realm of making it look great, if one is willing to let go of their art and give them that latitude.

 

I am going to take your advice clean my scenes up and send the art in to get the quote.....and get ready to mortgage the house  :bugeyed:

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we are really pondering using panatone metallic for the cards. the wife got a deck of playing cards and that is what she wanted. i have been using regular color chips for the design process though. Figure I iwill swap out the specific color at the end when we send it our for proof, the metallics have pretty close variations inthe CMYK chips

I'd definitely check in with the printer - the Pantone metallics have shimmer in them, and that'll never come through in CMYK. Silver will just be gray, and gold sometimes has a tendency to go green, so you'll want to be very careful with the builds to approximate them well. It can be done, we do it often on our digital press, but you just want to watch the builds so they don't go too far off what you're aiming for.

 

If you're printing offset 4-color plus a spot color, you can use an actual metallic Pantone which is great - but also check with the printer. There's often a slight up-charge for metallic inks, partly because of their increased cost, and partly because they are really sticky (and more opaque than most inks) and the press wash-up is more difficult after running a metallic.

 

HOWEVER - Some digital presses now run a 5th color, and metallics are available for some of them! I don't think Ricoh has them yet, but the same basic machine in the Heidelberg labeling I think does. It's a toner process, and I think some of them have metallic silver and gold available (and all with the 5th station should get those eventually). They also have gloss clear, white (we had those two until we upgraded to a more robust machine without the 5th station), and neon colors. It's not cheap (the white toner was $500 a bottle...) but if you can find a printer with metallics on their machine they will likely be eager to print something like that for you! It's a pretty new thing and I know most printers that have invested in the machine really want to sell these 5th color options.

 

 

thanks for the advice, it is really a joy to hear from experience, and it really is time to send this off to the printer.

 

to be honest the colors in the most particular sense do not matter with this deck. As long as they look good together. The art is all vector base, i used pantone chips to give the artist at the card company a relatively close feel for what I was looking for. We chose The Expert Playing Card Company to do this, so we know from their other work that their in house artist are very trust worthy in the realm of making it look great, if one is willing to let go of their art and give them that latitude.

 

I am going to take your advice clean my scenes up and send the art in to get the quote.....and get ready to mortgage the house  :bugeyed:

It's awesome that they have great in house artists - and even better that you are willing to let go and let them make it great! I find that many people have a hard time stepping back and letting me do my job, but most are happy once they do. In house artists know their machines, and their operators, their strengths and weaknesses, and are usually able to make the best of what they are given. Best of luck!

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It's awesome that they have great in house artists - and even better that you are willing to let go and let them make it great! I find that many people have a hard time stepping back and letting me do my job, but most are happy once they do. In house artists know their machines, and their operators, their strengths and weaknesses, and are usually able to make the best of what they are given. Best of luck!

 

i served a few years time in an advertising and sign shop...I personally was more adept at the laser etching and CNC, but we did everything on earth. Your advice has been like gold, I had been making far too many assumptions, for the printing cards and books is not signage or silk screen t-shirts even if all the chemicals are the same. Sign shop is sorta like prototyping in that you usually just make a handful of the sign if more than one at all.

 

it took me a couple years to learn my machines, particularly the hot stamping and plotters. Learning the different foils, temp, time, line weight, break order....i got really sweet at it :) I could make some cool stickers lol

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i just sent this off for the quote. If that goes well I can nail down some specifics and show a couple renders of the cards.

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DevonCarter

 

i served a few years time in an advertising and sign shop...I personally was more adept at the laser etching and CNC, but we did everything on earth. Your advice has been like gold, I had been making far too many assumptions, for the printing cards and books is not signage or silk screen t-shirts even if all the chemicals are the same. Sign shop is sorta like prototyping in that you usually just make a handful of the sign if more than one at all.

 

it took me a couple years to learn my machines, particularly the hot stamping and plotters. Learning the different foils, temp, time, line weight, break order....i got really sweet at it :) I could make some cool stickers lol

 

That's awesome! We do some of that sort of thing - we have a flatbed printer, Colex router, a latex roll printer and a vinyl cutter. I don't get to use those machines all that often, but I do get to design for them some. I mostly print digitally, and prepare files for the presses, and my primary job is design. I'm glad I could help a little! digital capability changes so quickly these days...

 

i'm looking forward to seeing your work!

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