FAQ: Why the colors on the monitor often don't correspond with those from the printer? Why are the colors from my printer quite different from that of the Offset printer?
A color can look completely different on each monitor. Also, each printer has a different color reproduction. Even the paper quality or the ambient light has an influence on the color appearance:
Monitors offer various settings to provide quality reproduction. Calibrate your monitor preferably with a color temperature setting of 6000-6500 K.
Devices such as graphics card, monitor, projector, printer, etc. use different color profiles. In order to enable accurate color reproduction, each of the devices used must be assigned its specific color profile. The different layout, photo editing and drawing applications also use profiles, which should be synchronized.
White papers present colors differently then grayish recycled paper. Papers with rough surfaces absorb the ink, unlike the smooth and shiny surfaced papers. On this the colors appear stronger and more brilliant.
The perception of color always depends on the prevailing ambient light. Thus, under certain lighting conditions, different colors can be perceived as being the same.
Colors are usually defined in the color models RGB and CMYK in order to be matched between different media. A computer uses a RGB color model, defined by red, green and blue, while printers and offset printers work with CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). The appearance on the monitor and from color inkjet printers is often more brilliant than those produced by the printers.
Color charts such as the Pantone Matching System, have established themselves as a global standard in the printing and design industry as a reliable method of defining color. Unlike the four-color printing, special inks offer the advantage of a relatively constant quality of the reproduced colors. Pantone colors cannot be reproduced on screen or office printer accurately though. Even when converted to 4-color printing, it is is never the same, because Pantone is usually much more brilliant.
Good to know!
It is almost impossible to have monitor, office printers and offset printing products perfectly coordinated. Even if the designer takes care of calibration, synchronization and matching of all the colors in the different medias and applications, he or she cannot guarantee the same reproduction at a customer or partner, where everything is looking completely different again ...
