Calibrating screens for image manipulation and colour accuracy

Why bother calibrating?

On 23.11.09, In Designing, Hardware, Offline, by Peter Simcoe

Calibrating screens to represent the colours you will see at the end of the print process can be a difficult job at the best of times but there is help available.

Calibrating your PC or Mac screen is often seen as a luxury for many companies but having dealt with a variety of small to medium sized businesses it can be seriously beneficial to engage in this process. One of the most common responses to a delivered print job is “why doesn’t it look the same as on the screen”. There are a few simple steps that can be taken to help you, as the company owner, marketing director or designer can efficiently achieve a ‘reasonable’ level of accuracy, or at the very least, improve the colour accuracy you currently achieve.

Hardware and Software

Buy yourself some calibration hardware and software. This will measure the coloured light emitted from your monitor and automatically adjust the computer’s colour settings to represent the closest to some of those diffiult calibration problems such as achieving reasonable skin tones.
Personally I use the Spyder2Express system for my calibration – though, as the link demonstrates, this has now been upgraded to version 3. There are several other budget options available including Pantones Huey amongst others.

Calibration Image

Ask your printers for an example image to compare print output from the print unit itself with what is seen onscreen. This can be incredibly useful if you regularly use the same printer for your brochure work.

You will need to request a printed example of this image – this is usually included as part of a colour chart. I usually put my design work through RCS plc because they are usually very careful to obtain the highest standard in print quality – plus they offer checking and proof reading for a small fee which is always useful as an extra backup after both I and the client have looked through the job.

Discuss

One other tip – don’t be afraid to discuss your print job and the process you are using to create the work with the printers themselves. This not only saves you time because you can get the process right without revision [unless of course you spell something wrong!], but your chosen print unit will value the opportunity to make sure that you save them time by getting it right also.

If your printers are not so happy to advise [though please not the use of advise rather than 'hold your hand at every step' which ends up wasting their time] then it is worth looking for a company who will give you a little customer service to ensure the best results possible.

In Conclusion

Please note that, using this process, there are no guarantees that your colour will be entirely accurate but it is safe to assume that, without spending thousands of pounds on consultancy and equipment, using these methods will significantly improve your colour accuracy.