Invitations - Part 2 - Color Crisis

Invitations - Part 2 - Color Crisis

March 13th, 2008 @ 3:56 pm by Ms. Dahlia

I initially used Open Office Draw to design our relatively simple invitations (the screen shots have been edited in paint):

The invitation. Simple, formal, perfect. Designed to be 8.5″ by 5.5″

The response card, inspired by Mrs. Gummi bear’s. Mr. Dahlia really wanted something to demonstrate that would make sure that the invitations didn’t feel too “stuffy.” Designed to be 5.5″ by 4.25″

Business card with the address of our (fairly extensive) website. It was much easier (and cheaper!) to just include that in the invitation than to have several inserts with directions and accommodations. Especially since most of the people invited live in Cleveland.

A quick word about the invitation design:
All of the text and images are actually fonts, from dafont.com. We used Tagettes for the text, and Im Fell Flowers letter “P” for the damask-looking watermark. Vegiterra letter “C” provided the carrot image, and LCR on the Farm letter “C” was the chicken image.

Now, I’d heard extensively that offset printing can produce slightly different color results than what appears on the computer monitor, as CMYK (offset printing) colors are different from RGB (computer monitor) colors. We ran a couple of “test prints” with all of the various inkjet and color laser printers we could to test colors, and they came out fine. But just to be on the safe side, I ordered a “test print” of 100 business cards from Overnight Prints. (I know that a lot of people use VistaPrint, but I wanted a matte finish to the cards.) Much cheaper to test print with those than with the whole invitation suite.

This is what we got:

Nice looking, if chocolate brown was our primary color. But it’s not. And this is clearly not red.

So I consulted the New Big Book of Color, and changed some things around. And ordered another test print:

This was more reminiscent of hemorrhoids than anything else.

I was frustrated. I was a little bit panicky. And desperate times called for bringing in the reinforcements…

Tags: diy, invitations |

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17 Responses to “Invitations - Part 2 - Color Crisis”

Guest

Kat

Have you tried consulting pantone colors and the corresponding CMYK?

3/13/08 @ 3:59 pm (reply)

Member

stargazerlily (message) 946 posts, Busy bee

Hi Miss D! I’ve never gotten anything professionally printed but arent you able to work in CMYK in design software?

I like the way the overnight prints prints turned out!

3/13/08 @ 3:59 pm (reply)

Member

lanny9 (message) 188 posts, Blushing bee

I found that creating a pdf from the computer that was use for the design helps to keep the color somewhat true. I am doing my own printing, but since my brother’s computer is more sophisticated, he saved everything in pdf format and when transferred to my laptop doens’t change the color or text format. He’s using InDesign. Good luck, your invites looks wonderful!

3/13/08 @ 4:15 pm (reply)

Guest

seems like the color they give you is darker than what you choose. have you tried “red”?
or ask them to send you sample of their color?

3/13/08 @ 4:24 pm (reply)

Guest

seems like the color they give you is darker than what you choose. have you tried “red”?
or ask them to send you color sample?

3/13/08 @ 4:24 pm (reply)

Guest

EJV

You *can* get matte from Vistaprint. If I were you, I would call Overnight Prints and let them know the color did not come out even close. I’ve had issues with their printing before too.

3/13/08 @ 4:33 pm (reply)

Guest

marisa

sorry, this isn’t a helpful comment, but i just had to say that i love your design! completely original, classy, and elegant:)

3/13/08 @ 4:53 pm (reply)

Member

brendalynn (message) 154 posts, Blushing bee

I’m with Kat on this one (assuming you haven’t already solved this problem) find someone with a Pantone book that lists corresponding CMYK colors, and then try to pick a color with surrounding colors that would also be OK (ie not a color where the nearby colors are totally not what you want). And then when you send it in, talk to Overnight Print to ensure that they understand you’re trying to approximate a specific Pantone color. They should be able to match it, or at least get very close…

well, one would think, at least–I’ve never worked with Overnight Print.

Sometimes it can be such a hassle to turn a beautiful digital design into a corresponding beautiful print! I feel for ya!

3/13/08 @ 5:06 pm (reply)

Hostess

suzanno (message) 2,694 posts, Sugar bee

I looked at custom color printing, but haven’t decided yet - but I was told by several companies that if I submitted a sample swatch (paper, fabric, ribbon…) they would do their closest Pantone match, and if no Pantone color approximated they would custom mix a color for an additional fee. I presume that your printer can do the same. If not, I think I would switch printers because it seems to be a fairly common capability.

3/13/08 @ 5:22 pm (reply)

10.

Guest

Loren

Hi Ladies! Hi Miss D!
I am a graphic designer, so I thought I would jump in here… First and foremost, you want to make sure you are BUILDING the invitation in CMYK format. I can’t tell you how many clients send me files they built in RGB, which I then have to convert to CMYK for print– This makes the color shift a LOT and look really dark/dull.
Also, I have had a few things printed at overnightprints.come. Each and every time, there was a cyan colorshift. (All of my colors looked like they added green). When I told them, they happily refunded my money and tried again.
Also, a few of the ladies are on the right track with Pantones. I don’t know if they will take the time to have someone color correct, but if you give them a pantone, they should be able to ensure that the color is true. Good luck! They really do look beautiful!

3/13/08 @ 6:16 pm (reply)

11.

Guest

Michelle

Hi Miss D,

I’m also a graphic designer and I second everything Loren said, but will add that you will likely be charged more for a pantone color as it is a more specific color match than a sample.

Perhaps you can reference a pantone color that is close for them to come close to matching or use as their reference of what you are seeing at home.

3/13/08 @ 7:20 pm (reply)

12.

Bee

Miss Dahlia (message) 412 posts, Helper bee

Thanks for all of the suggestions, everyone. I was actually designing the invitation in CMYK.

I was eventually able to get things resolved, as you’ll see in tomorrow’s post.

3/13/08 @ 7:46 pm (reply)

13.

Bee

Miss Flamingo (message) 1,265 posts, Bumble bee

IM a little late on this one and glad you figured things out… but being a designer Loren and Michelle…have it right on!

3/13/08 @ 8:10 pm (reply)

14.

Guest

Sarah

Yeah, my invitations are about the same color as yours (matched a fabric swatch to a Pantone book one day at work), and on my screen it looked really, really orange.

3/13/08 @ 10:44 pm (reply)

15.

Member

taaliza (message) 45 posts, Newbee

I will say - with overnightprints.com - I had some major trouble with the way they printed my Save the Dates. I know this isn’t your issue - but everything was designed in CMYK and the colors ranged with all of the 250 postcards (from black to the faintest brown) - quiet frustrating and all that …. glad to see you got yours resolved!

3/13/08 @ 11:40 pm (reply)

16.

Guest

Invitations - Part3 - With A Little Help From My Friends » Weddingbee

[...] Part 1 - Inspiration Part 2 - Color Crisis [...]

3/14/08 @ 4:24 pm (reply)

17.

Guest

Paul

Overnight Prints is probably the worst place you could order from for “color-specific” projects. You will never get accurate colors especially if you are doing solid colors, because they are gang-run with other orders. I’ve ordered from them many times (for design school) and live around their area and have always had to return my order!

I would venture to say that Vista Prints is a little more accurate. I’ve only ordered from them once, and never had to once be on the phone with customer service!

3/30/08 @ 8:30 pm (reply)