Impressions - June/July 2013 - (Page 54)

talking SHOP Screen Printing Production Make Color Matching Easier If you learn basic color properties and standardize your in-house inks, you can create a proﬁtable and efﬁcient process for color matching. By Thomas Trimingham, Contributing Writer factor in and who absorbs it? Depending on the agreement and relationship with the client, it may be possible to charge extra for color matching, or include the cost into either the art or the production setup costs. If there is no way to bill for the extra time required for color matching, then it is even more important that an efﬁcient system be used to save time. A great way to start developing skill with colors is to ﬁrst address the concepts of color communication. Understanding basic color vocabulary can be very useful in educating your clients on the different variables involved in matching a color. COLOR TERMS Hues have certain properties with colors that are close to them and those that will mix with them to create other hues. Isolating the hue from value and saturation will make it easier to understand how some colors can be easily matched while others may be more difﬁcult. c olor matching doesn’t have to be a challenging part of the screen printing process. The main obstacles to fast and efﬁcient color matching involve educating customers, previewing and preparing the artwork properly, and using the right tools to modify or mix inks properly. Once these hurdles are cleared, handling new color requests becomes a relatively simple matter. Many of the difﬁculties in providing accurate color results can be prevented 54 Impressions | June/July 2013 up front by ﬁrst developing good colormatching policies. A client will provide a design or logo and then, as an afterthought, say, “Oh yes! Make sure you match that accent color to Pantone 300 for me.” This situation begs the question: What exactly are your shop’s policies for providing a color match on a printed T-shirt? Many printers are nervous about charging for matching an ink color and it is more common for this cost not to be added. If that’s the case, where does the extra cost The fundamentals of color use are hue, value (or brightness), saturation, surface (gloss or matte) and opacity. Following are deﬁnitions and practical examples for each. Hue: With regard to color, this term relates to the speciﬁc wavelength of light that the color reﬂects. If a color is royal blue, that means other colors are absorbed and the royal blue wavelength is reﬂected. This is important to understand because hues have certain properties with colors that are close to them and those that will mix with them to create other hues. Isolating the hue from value and saturation will make it easier to understand how some colors can be easily matched while others may be more difﬁcult. Value: This term also is known as color brightness and indicates how much white or black is in a speciﬁc color. Sometimes this concept is difﬁcult for clients to understand without a visual reference. A certain hue of green may appear like a mint green, grass green or even a dark forest green — depending on the value — but this doesn’t mean it is different. The color is just brighter or darker. This term is important to understand because speciﬁc impressionsmag.com http://www.impressionsmag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Impressions - June/July 2013

Impressions - June/July 2013
Contents
First Impressions
From the Show Director
FYI
Product Gallery
ISS Conferences
Outfitting Tots & Teens
Is the Price Right?
Heat Printing for Friday Nights
Shop Spotlight
Embroidery Design & Digitizing
Online Directory
Embroidery Production
Screen Printing Production
Screen Printing Technique
Tech Tips
Classifieds
Ad Index

Impressions - June/July 2013