Orange printed as Red on corriboard. Anyone know why and can it be salvaged?

[EmpressOfIcecream]

Hi guys,

I was asked by a friend to design an A1 placard on corriboard which included a big green, white and orange flag but my friend is saying the orange printed out red so she can't use it (looks like an Italian instead of an Irish flag). I'm not used to print work and usually just do web design.

Here's a PDF of exactly what the flag looked like that went to the printers.
I'm wondering if this is a printer issue or did I do something wrong?

The orange I used was [HASHTAG]#F15B26[/HASHTAG]

My friend spent a lot of money getting four placards printed with the design and I'm devastated she wasn't able to use them especially if it was my fault.

Does anyone know of a way I might be able to salvage the job. Maybe I could use a marker or paint to colour over the red? I was thinking a yellow marker might make the red appear orange.

Has anyone ever done anything like that?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[ikarasu]

It's best to use pantone colors, not CMYK Values when printing. My printer will print 0/80/97/0 different than your printer will.
That said... It's obvious thats an orange, so if the print shop you used printed it and it was printed as a red... it should be on them to send you a new replacement.

Have you contacted them to see what they say? Send them photos of your artwork along with a photo of the print. If it really is a red instead of an orange, they should reprint it for you free of charge.

without knowing how they made the print.. it's hard to say how to fix it. It could be a vinyl print, or a UV print, or a screen print, or it could be they just used 2 cut vinyl colors and put it on the coro.

If they wont do anything about it, check amazon for some orange vinyl... Goto any art shop and their cricut isle will have some for sale. It's a few bucks a SQFT, and your easiest way to fix it if you don't get any help from your printer.

 

[EmpressOfIcecream]

It's best to use pantone colors, not CMYK Values when printing. My printer will print 0/80/97/0 different than your printer will.
That said... It's obvious thats an orange, so if the print shop you used printed it and it was printed as a red... it should be on them to send you a new replacement.

Have you contacted them to see what they say? Send them photos of your artwork along with a photo of the print. If it really is a red instead of an orange, they should reprint it for you free of charge.

without knowing how they made the print.. it's hard to say how to fix it. It could be a vinyl print, or a UV print, or a screen print, or it could be they just used 2 cut vinyl colors and put it on the coro.

If they wont do anything about it, check amazon for some orange vinyl... Goto any art shop and their cricut isle will have some for sale. It's a few bucks a SQFT, and your easiest way to fix it if you don't get any help from your printer.

She hasn't contacted them yet. I wanted to wait to see if I could find out whether it was my fault.
I'll get her to send some pics.
I think it was a screen print.
The flag was in the background with some design elements in the foreground so it might be tricky to cut vinyl out to fit the shape.
Thanks for the suggestion though, it could be worth a shot if the printers won't do a new set.
I was hoping there would be a markers or paint with be an easier solution.

 

[Billct2]

How big are these? I'm wondering why they were expensive and if they really were screenprinted, usually screen printing is reserved for a large run not 4 pieces.
And you are in Ireland, did it not occur to the vendor that it was an Irish flag, not Italian?

 

[ikarasu]

This is an end user..not a printer, that's why it cost a lot.

I imagine it's uv or flatbed. Your only hope is to call the company and explain the issue... 9/10 times they will redo it for you, especially if it's a local company. The cost you paid for was time to setup and print these... The material cost is cheap enough.

Unless you bought from a scummy company, they'll redo it with the correct orange. A shade or two off is acceptable.... Of course we have no comparison pics so I can't say how far off it is, but if it's really red instead of orange and they just missed it... It's a no Brainer that they'd change it.

 

[EmpressOfIcecream]

How big are these? I'm wondering why they were expensive and if they really were screenprinted, usually screen printing is reserved for a large run not 4 pieces.
And you are in Ireland, did it not occur to the vendor that it was an Irish flag, not Italian?

They are A1. Wasn't told the price, just heard they cost a lot. Yeah, not sure why they wouldn't spot the flag. Shame. My guess was screen-print. TBH, not sure what that involves. Could have been another method. I'll try to find out more.

 

[EmpressOfIcecream]

This is an end user..not a printer, that's why it cost a lot.

I imagine it's uv or flatbed. Your only hope is to call the company and explain the issue... 9/10 times they will redo it for you, especially if it's a local company. The cost you paid for was time to setup and print these... The material cost is cheap enough.

Unless you bought from a scummy company, they'll redo it with the correct orange. A shade or two off is acceptable.... Of course we have no comparison pics so I can't say how far off it is, but if it's really red instead of orange and they just missed it... It's a no Brainer that they'd change it.

Excellent, she's going to contact them in the morning.

 

[Billct2]

A1? I had to look it up, less than 2'x3', over here that would either be a flatbed print, cheapest or digital print vinyl on coro still cheap.
Definitely talk to the printer

 

[shoresigns]

The orange I used was [HASHTAG]#F15B26[/HASHTAG]

You picked a very reddish orange, compared to the actual orange in the flag of Ireland. Put that colour side by side with [HASHTAG]#FF883E[/HASHTAG] to see the difference. The official colours are in the Wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Ireland

And next time, ask the printer what colour mode will give you the best accuracy. Most large format printing is done in CMYK, but different shops will have different preferences and ways of dealing with RGB, CMYK or Pantone artwork.

 

[Solventinkjet]

The colors you chose are RGB and I bet your printer prints in the CMYK color space. Set your document color space to CMYK and find a color that works in that space. Should print more accurately. At the end of the day, you are used to Web design which is much easier to handle color. Once you go to print though, it gets more complicated due to a lot of factors.

 

[EmpressOfIcecream]

A1? I had to look it up, less than 2'x3', over here that would either be a flatbed print, cheapest or digital print vinyl on coro still cheap.
Definitely talk to the printer

Sorry, forgot A sizes aren't used everywhere.

She sent me some pics. top is with a flash, bottom is without.
On my mobile, they looked more red but back on my desktop with a good monitor I think you can see the orange.
Perhaps a reddy orange and they printed a little darker than intended.
I'm going to check them out in person tomorrow.
Supposedly a few people told her they looked red.

 

[Billct2]

If you can get someone with a plotter you could cut that in orange vinyl and drop it right on top.

 

[myront]

corelDraw converts the colors like so. SVG file from Wikipedia

 

[myront]

From what I have experienced the only file format to hit pantone colors is pdf. Doesn't matter what file type you send a third party print shop. You have no idea how they're sending it to the print RIP. If they're using pdf, great, but only if the settings are correct. How the RIP is set up could be a problem. The print profile too. MAny factors to consider.
Always best to use pantone colors. At least the print shop can "throw the book at it" and reprint until they get a close as possible.

 

[EmpressOfIcecream]

If you can get someone with a plotter you could cut that in orange vinyl and drop it right on top.

don't know anyone with a plotter but maybe I can find a business that will do it.

 

[Billct2]

Or hand knife it if you have the skill.

 

[MikePro]

the banding in their print leads me to believe the color output was correct, but it was lacking much of the yellow channel...thus making orange print red.

 

[ikarasu]

Is this a local shop or an online? Did you ask them yet? It's definately red and not orange. We'd never send that out... Not many people have proofs though. They have 100 files to rip... They print it and send it out. Red oranges and Grey's are the hardest colors to hit... There's a few oranges my machine will print as a blood orange that looks nothing like what I'm trying to print. I usually fix it by adding the correct colors to the rip. But no matter how profiled your Machine is.... Some Colors just come out wrong.

Honesty.... This will likely all be solved by emailing or calling the company that printed these for you. They'll likely print you brand new ones.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Why don't people contact the purchaser before going online and raising a ruckus? A simple phone call with photos may produce the result you're looking for.

Complain about the banding... that's just as bad as the missed color. If they won't fix it, file a charge-back on your credit card and go to another company. These answers are simple.

 

[iPrintStuff]

Surely nobody would send that job out. Even if the colours are off the banding is crazy. What does the print PDF look like?

How much exactly did she pay? Honestly you shouldn’t be paying any more than about £15 an A1 for 4. And that’s still pretty steep.