In-house color management
pechos (120 pencils) | Wed, 2006-03-01 21:53Hi there,
I primarily design for the web, but the shop I work at just recently purchased a color laser printer and I have a few questions regarding color management and in-house hard / soft proofing.
My monitor is calibrated using the spyder2 and I have that profile enabled as my OS default color profile (winXP). My ultimate goal here is to be able to match what I see on my screen as close as possible to the printed color laser output. Now here are a few of my many random questions.
Alternatively I am also open to any outside resources that touch down on this issue. So, onto my questions.....
1) If I were to be printing a brochure designed with inDesign, I can only assume I need to enable color management and set my RGB space to the spyder profile, yes?
2) Referring to the same brochure, does it matter what the CMYK space settings are on in inDesign? If so, any recommendations?
3) Do I ever need to worry about using the printers default ICC profile, or incorporate that into my workflow at all? Conversely, should I be associating the spyder profile for the printer to read from? I noticed that was an option when exploring the printer properties dialog box.
I think that covers my big ones for the time being.
Any insight would be most appreciated. I realize on of the better ways to really figure all this stuff out is to experiment. Unfotunately however, I am the sole designer in a shop of tech heads and just about everyone is clueless as to what this process entails, and they are also not willing to allot me the time it takes to figure this out. Also, I would be repremanded for the excessive paper use. Bet you wish you had my job!!
I would actually love the chance to even shoot the breeze on it over yahoos voip as well if any Gurus want to blather on to a most captive audience. Well, I hope someone can help, I look forward to the replies!
Thanks,
/David
Commenting on this Forum topic is closed.
You're going to have a rough time getting exact matches, regardless of color managment and ICC profiles. The spectrum in RGB is much broader than that of CMYK (which will be your color printer). Vibrant colors on screen will not print well, they will become muted and muddy. You can simulate how your web designs will look in print by turning on Proof Colors (which is in the View menu). Or, turn on "Gamut Warning," which will highlight any color out of the CMYK gamut. This will show you where the design will fall short in print.
I know that only indirectly answers your questions, but web design and print design are two different animals with their own unique downfalls. As long as you know the hows and whys between them, and you can explain it to your tech heads, they should be understanding.
Thanks for the reply!
The designs I am trying to print are actually for print and designed in CMYK. I have been messing around with matching and have come pretty close, but my problem now is that everywhere I use an instance of this "light blue", it comes out reddish, and the photos are lacking contrast. These a=re the same files that have been output in the past however to both print press and a different in house printer and they looked great, just as they should?
I realize this is a rather convoluted topic and pretty much a science in and of itself. I suppose if anyone else has any other insights I will be checking back.
Thanks again.
www.dakeat.com
Where are you using the light blue? And how are you trying to match it?