Need Help Am I crazy, or can this not be printed as is?

[masiphx]

I have a client that wants stickers, but the designer that made the logo made all the colors neon. Converting to CMYK makes it look dull and nothing like the bright original.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/po3rhc939hcvthy/slimez-print.jpg is the link

if anyone can tell me who can print neon colors on stickers, let me know.

Thank you

 

[ewded]

Just ask the client to get a cmyk version from the designer and grab a coffee and let him explain why it looks like that.

 

[ams]

You can't print neon with CMYK.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Why convert? Print it RGB and let your RIP convert using either perceptual or relative colorimetric to maintain brightness.

We print from RGB files all the time for our fair clients and the colors are incredibly bright when you let the RIP do its job.

 

[#racewraps]

I have a client that wants stickers, but the designer that made the logo made all the colors neon. Converting to CMYK makes it look dull and nothing like the bright original.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/po3rhc939hcvthy/slimez-print.jpg is the link

if anyone can tell me who can print neon colors on stickers, let me know.

Thank you

Your only options would likely be printing on a Gerber Edge if there are any of those around yet or another form of spot color printing you could specify those “neon” colors. Might be something Stouse can do if you want to check with them if it’s a decent quantity to make up for the Or if you can find someone that can screenprint them. Otherwise you have what you have there. This is yet another reason why designers should fully understand the scope of the projects they are working on.

Thanks,
Kurt

 

[AKwrapguy]

I have a client that wants stickers, but the designer that made the logo made all the colors neon. Converting to CMYK makes it look dull and nothing like the bright original.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/po3rhc939hcvthy/slimez-print.jpg is the link

if anyone can tell me who can print neon colors on stickers, let me know.

Thank you

I wouldn't consider those neon colors. Do you have the vector files? Can you not just replace them with spot colors and be done with it? If you don't have the vector but the image you have is high enough resolution that particular artwork you could easily trace in Illustrator and assign it spot colors.

 

[jimbug72]

You'll never get neon from CMYK. I agree with 2CT. Leaving it in RGB and letting the RIP sort out the conversion is going to get you the brightest colors.

 

[masiphx]

Thanks everyone. I understand completely about the CMYK thing. The problem is the designer didn't. He designed this on an iPad. I even had to explain to him how to export to SVG. So I do have a vector, and I understand CMYK cant make fluorescents or such bright colors. I've tried RIPs and it just wont look "bright" and they want this to be fluoro bright. Hence spot coloring

I have found a silkscreen sticker company that can do it as 4 color spot, with fluoro for green and pinks. I was just double checking to see if there was another way around it. Clients cost just went up about four fold. Thankfully I wasn't a part of the design process.

I''ll double check w Stouse as well.

And I would love to not be in the middle of this, but its for one of my larger clients for his kid. Can't really back out.

 

[ams]

Thanks everyone. I understand completely about the CMYK thing. The problem is the designer didn't. He designed this on an iPad. I even had to explain to him how to export to SVG. So I do have a vector, and I understand CMYK cant make fluorescents or such bright colors. I've tried RIPs and it just wont look "bright" and they want this to be fluoro bright. Hence spot coloring

I have found a silkscreen sticker company that can do it as 4 color spot, with fluoro for green and pinks. I was just double checking to see if there was another way around it. Clients cost just went up about four fold. Thankfully I wasn't a part of the design process.

I''ll double check w Stouse as well.

And I would love to not be in the middle of this, but its for one of my larger clients for his kid. Can't really back out.

I can't stand SVG's, they are a pain.

 

[brycesteiner]

And I would love to not be in the middle of this, but its for one of my larger clients for his kid. Can't really back out.

That is your problem. You understand it and they really know but they want you to work a miracle and you can't say what you really want.

 

[AKwrapguy]

Thanks everyone. I understand completely about the CMYK thing. The problem is the designer didn't. He designed this on an iPad. I even had to explain to him how to export to SVG. So I do have a vector, and I understand CMYK cant make fluorescents or such bright colors. I've tried RIPs and it just wont look "bright" and they want this to be fluoro bright. Hence spot coloring

I have found a silkscreen sticker company that can do it as 4 color spot, with fluoro for green and pinks. I was just double checking to see if there was another way around it. Clients cost just went up about four fold. Thankfully I wasn't a part of the design process.

I''ll double check w Stouse as well.

And I would love to not be in the middle of this, but its for one of my larger clients for his kid. Can't really back out.

Just get the .eps version... convert to either RBG or Spot colors and your done. No need to take to a screen printer.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Man I am see a lot of spot color comments recently as if they are these magical colors that allow you to print out of gamut on your printer. When you send a spot color over to a RIP all that happens is the RIP looks up the spot color on a table and the table gives the RIP back a CMYK value. It's literally no different than sending a CMYK value other than the fact that using spot colors helps you with color consistency and makes it so you don't have to remember all the CMYK values for certain colors. It does nothing other than that when printing to a CMYK printer.

Now when you have an actual spot color in your printer, it's a different story. Let's say you mixed your own pigments together into an ink that perfectly matches Pantone 253. If you choose Pantone 253, which is a spot color, in Illustrator and send it to a properly configured RIP, it will print your specially mixed ink instead of using process color to create it virtually. That is a true spot color. It's the same with people who use white inks, silver inks and others on inkjet printers. That is why OP is going to a screen printer. Screen printers have much more flexibility when it comes to spot colors because they are not limited to the CMYK gamut and they can make their own colors by mixing pigments which an inkjet printer cannot do at all.

If you bring OP's file into Photoshop and use the eye dropper to select any color in it, it immediately warns you that it is out of the CMYK gamut. Yes you can send it as RGB and the printer will come closer to the colors but won't make it close enough to matter. It will never ever come close enough to colors we are seeing on the screen. I'm not saying people can't print vibrant colors but no body can recreate these colors in CMYK without the help of special inks.

 

[AF]

Send your proof for approval. If they don’t approve then cancel the order. You cannot change the laws of physics for your client.

 

[Bly]

Just manage their expectations.
Tell them the colours are no way going look the same as they do on an iPad, but they will look nice.

 

[Modern Ink Signs]

educate your client

We can print them and this is the way they will look and the cost is $x.xx

Or

We can send them out to be done and the cost is $x.xx

Pros and cons for each are......

Not to mention are these for outdoor? Neon does not last outdoors. I’d say 6 months at best

 

[equippaint]

Just print it and tell them your colors are right and the designer screwed up. Honest to god, who wants neon in their logo, its tacky.

 

[masiphx]

update

So first, I know this is my problem. I only mentioned that I'd for it not to be my problem.

Next, sure, a RIP can convert rgb to cmyk, but as someone else said, it cant do neon, it cant magically bend the laws of physics. If this was just a slightly out of gamut image, I could have lowered expectations, but they specified they wanted retinal shock neon. So, spot colors it is.

I did find a site that would cost a lot more, but would do screenprint spot colors (neon green and purple, etc). I looked up the retail price and sent that to the client. Told him to have his daughter pick the insane colors she wanted, that way she would get what she asked for. Are the colors tacky? sure. but its a kids product made by a kid.

BTW, to the person who suggested Stouse, THANK YOU. I went there, noticed the ink colors they offered matched the retailer I found previously to a tee. Did some research and turns out the retailer outsources to Stouse. So now I can charge slightly less than the retailer, and make a nice little profit.

As for SVG, it was a bit of a pain to put all the shapes together so it was clean layers, but only a few minutes of griping later and I was done. In the end, clients daughter will get the colors she wants (taste be damned), client is already willing to pay for a 4 spot color job, and I came out making a decent profit for the headache the designer induced.

Thank you all for your input, I appreciated the groupthink on this.

 

[ddarlak]

Just manage their expectations.

+1000