Color Matching and Proofs

Most jobs never need more than a digital proof. These two services are for the ones where close is not good enough.

Why color varies at all

We print in CMYK, using cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink. Your monitor shows you RGB, lit from behind. Printed vinyl is not lit from behind, and every screen is calibrated a little differently. Some variation between your screen, your digital proof, and the finished piece is normal and expected.

CMYK proof: $25

We print your full-color file on your actual production material and mail you the physical piece.

Order this when you want to see the whole design in ink before we run the job: how the photos hold up, how the gradients land, how the material itself changes the finish. It is the closest thing to holding the finished wrap before it exists.

What we need: your print-ready file and your shipping details.

PMS color matching: $25 per color, per material

For a brand color that has to be right everywhere it appears. We build the closest possible CMYK match to your Pantone color, profiled for the specific material you are printing on, then print a swatch and mail it to you.

One thing to be clear about: we do not print with Pantone spot inks. What you get is a careful simulation built from four process inks, optimized by our technicians for your material. It gets close, and on most colors it gets very close, but it is a match rather than the ink itself.

Pricing is per color and per material. One Pantone color across two different materials is two matches.

What we need:

• An editable, layered file so we can make color adjustments. Illustrator (ai, eps), or Photoshop (psd).
• Your Pantone reference, chosen from the Pantone Color Bridge Coated book. That book exists to show CMYK equivalents, which is exactly what we are working from.
• Your shipping details.

To preview roughly how your color will convert, look at the CP swatch in the Color Bridge Coated book, for example 192 CP. Treat it as a reference point. Our technicians optimize past it for your specific material.

What we cannot match

• HEX colors
• Pantone numbers from books other than Color Bridge Coated
• Textures, gradients, pastels, neon brights, and metallics

If your brand color is a metallic or a neon, get in touch before ordering. There is usually a sensible way to handle it, and it is better discussed than discovered.

Some materials cannot hold a color match at all. If yours is one of them we will tell you before you order.

How approval works

Both services end the same way. Sign and date what arrives, photograph it, and send the photo back to us. We keep a duplicate here and check the production run against it.

That signed piece is the approved color standard for your job. Production starts once your photo is back and a proof is approved, so send it as soon as you are happy with what you are holding.

Timing

Color matching adds 3 to 5 business days to your production turnaround, on top of mail time. If you are working toward a date, order early.

Ordering and billing

Color services are billed separately from your print order and are due when you order the service. Production begins once payment has cleared and your signed photo is back with us.

To ship your proof we need a full name, company name if applicable, shipping address, phone number, and the name of whoever is responsible for approving color.