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Complaint Procedure Colur Accuracy
How do you guys handle a client that isn’t happy with the colour when you’ve asked for pms (pantone) references, offered them a production proof for a small fee which they decline and they come back with it doesn’t match my business card after you’ve explained to them all about colour and when they have only given you CMYK values in their artwork?
We always get this with small clients who do their own design and have no idea about colour work flows.
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6 Replies
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It can be a tough one mate and it all too often happens with people who do not understand the technology or its limitations. But that said, as far as I’m concerned it’s not your problem if you never promised them it was possible and did your best to explain possible outcomes that may have been unsuitable for the job.
As with all sales roles, managing customer expectations is equally important as managing the final output. And if you have done what you have said you have done, I believe there is nothing more you can do and the problem is not yours to solve. I would try the following options (Which you probably already have)
– Explain to them that some colours are not physically possible in a CMYK colour mix and if they are exceptionally fussy, you can have it screen printed with spot colours to match, but that will cost them a fortune and they will be made to supply spot colours regardless of their colour knowledge. This will also likely entail graphic design costs and proofs will need to be signed off before any work begins and are legally binding. You might get lucky and this will scare them off.
– You could also take a different approach and explain to them that although you want their business, you can’t be expected to educate every customer on what they need, you can advise where problems may arise, but you cannot be held responsible for their decisions if the job goes wrong because they have taken risks you advised them about.
It is a tough one, and it can be a bit rough to solve at times. I do trade printing these days and still it seems to happen all to often with people who perhaps should know better. I offer proofs for every job and make it well clear that my equipment and media is all custom profiled and colours are about as accurate as possible on a CMYK machine and if I do not get a colour, hard proof on paper of any work, I will not do much more than look over it for obvious errors and ripping issues that fall under the umbrella of "my problem". Anything else cannot be colour managed by me as I have nothing to reference it against if Pantones are not supplied.
Sorry I cant be much more help mate, good luck solving this one!!
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I wonder if the business card matches the Pantone?
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I don’t think its about pantones. Its more customers get their business cards printed first then assume everything else should come out the same as that.
I don’t really see it as our place to educate customers on colour especially on small orders.
If someone is painting their house and they change the brand of paint most people are aware that you need to specify what the colour was and not what percentages of the paint colours were used to achieve that colour for that particular brand.
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presuming the business card colour is done in four colour process then you should match up if artwork comes from same source. If business card is printed spot, then you end up with colour missmatch, normally a cmyk would be flatter or slightly off.
Photoshop out of colour gamut warning will tell ya if that spot is trouble (not accurate guide) or visual matching between a pre-printed colour chart and the real pantone book.
however with the complaint, if they have ‘specified’ and you decided to charge them a fee for proof, then then send it off. Your covered.
sometimes we match to our printed colour table and adjust artwork to suit, depends really just as we know that the JV3 could have some issues with colour profiling with unprofiled materials.
Hard one, as we had a few fussy ones but sometimes we reprint, depends on value of job i guess.
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It their card was ganged with other cards then the press will be set to achieve an overall best colour unless they paid for a bespoke run of just their cards which is highly unlikely. So I would put money on their cards not being correct to the artwork values.
Customers!!! enough said……. :lol1:
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Did they ask you to match a business card ?
Is your substrate the same material as the business card – this can have a huge affect on a final colour.
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