Book Printing by Delta Printing Solutions

Experienced print buyers know one of their most important jobs is getting color on press right. The fundamental challenge is matching what you see on your screen to what is ultimately printed on paper.

Whether they know it or not, most people design and create graphics files in RGB (red, green and blue), which is a color system fundamentally incompatible with printing presses. Then, prior to putting ink on paper, all images and files are converted to CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) for printing press compatibility. A challenge printers face every day is providing the guidance necessary to avoid customer disappointment during this conversion process.

RGB vs. CMYK
The root of the problem is that some RGB colors don’t exist in CMYK. These are referred to as being “out of the CMYK color gamut.” A computer program’s RGB-to-CMYK translator may get an image close to the appearance of the original, but it rarely is exact. If you do your important color edits in CMYK, your printed results will be better.

Start by converting all images from RGB to CMYK before sending jobs to us. It’s not that we or any other printer mind doing color conversion, but our interpretation of a CMYK approximation of an RGB original may not be the same as yours. A common complaint is that CMYK colors don’t look as vibrant as RGB colors. However, if you do the conversion yourself, and don’t like the way a CMYK image looks, you can manually adjust it as you wish.

Spot Colors for Important Solids
Solid colors can either be “built” by using a CMYK blend by specifying a PMS (Pantone™ Matching System) color. Without a doubt, the surest way of getting a perfect color match – i.e., for a logo – is by choosing a PMS color. As in most things, the trade off is additional cost because your printer needs to burn another plate and run another cylinder on the printing press.

Here are some color management considerations:

• Specify PMS colors. Even if you choose to build a color in CMYK, let us know the PMS color you are aiming to approximate. If you do this, we can keep this consideration in mind on press check when making color adjustments to other images on a sheet.

• Trust the software … only so far. Print customers should examine important graphic elements and images for post-CMYK conversion. Common design programs like QuarkXPress or Adobe InDesign don’t automatically default to CMYK. These programs will apply color values that you assign but will not apply any color correction. Adjustments need to be done manually.

• Update your PMS guide. Many print customers have swatch books, especially the Pantone Matching System (PMS). Since changes occur in every new addition and colors fade, we recommend getting a new copy at least every other year.

The Delta Printing Solutions Advantage
Delta Printing Solutions has been committed to meeting the needs of customers for more than fifty years. Located in Los Angeles County, Delta Printing Solutions is the largest independent provider of books, manuals, catalogs, journals and directories in the Western United States. The company offers superior prepress, printing, finishing and binding services with state-of-the-art technology and craftsmanship.