Seeing a hard copy proof for a print job can be very important. There have been times, when our customer’s are looking at a proof on a screen, and the colouring is not what they expect it to be. As an example, I have one customer who we were doing business cards for. My customer sent me the photo he wanted used, which I forwarded to my artist. When the photo had been input into the business card, and re-forwarded to him, on both his computer screen and phone his face looked red. He was concerned that there was an error made in the art process, but once I suggested he print it off on his computer, he was able to see that the colouring was just due to the screens.
It doesn’t make sense that all monitor’s aren’t calibrated the same. And it can also be a challenge, because your everyday home printer won’t be perfectly accurate either. Although it will give you some idea.
So if you are very picky about colour, it is very important to remember, whoever your supplier is, ask for a hardcopy proof to prevent mistakes.
How do you prevent mistakes in your industry?