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Color Shifts in Printed Materials

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Have you ever had a set of business cards printed, and then a year later go back to the same exact printer with the same exact file and your next set of cards are a slightly different color? If you are printing in full color this will most likely occur every time you go to print.
The reason for this is that almost all full color printers create what is called a "gang run.
" A printing press runs large sheets of paper, so instead of running one order of business cards, which would cost the customer hundreds of dollars, printers place 30-40 different business card orders on a single sheet of paper.
This method significantly reduces the cost for each customer.
The two drawbacks of gang run printing are that the customer has only a few paper stocks to choose from, and the colors may shift! Printers match up the business card colors that are similar in hue and put them together as best they can.
In one run a predominantly green card is placed under another green card going to print.
When printed, the green card will print out very consistently with the colors that are on the file.
What you see on the screen is likely to be what you see in print.
A year later, that same green card is placed under a blue card, instead of a more similarly colored green card.
This time around, that green card may come out with a slightly bluer shade of green.
To take the example further, the third time the same green card is printed it is placed next to a solid pink card, giving this new run a green that is slightly mottled in hue.
Most full color printers have an allowance of up to a 5% color shift on any of the 4 colors that make up the printing color spectrum: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.
The benefit of full-color printing is that it is inexpensive, and you can have as many different colors as you want in your printed materials.
If you are very picky about the colors on your materials, you will not want to use a gang-run full-color printer.
You will want to either run on a one or two color press using Pantone colors, or find a printer who will print your card only on a solo run.
Just know that the price is going to be significantly higher.
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