Designing for print

[bobbi716]

How many designers work with Gracol and SWOP and what is your opinion on its importance for print designers to understand?

The reason I'm asking is we just had a little session to get a very brief overview of this, and I never heard of this - not even college - it wasn't covered at all...

[PrintDriver]

Not covered in college?
Somehow I'm not surprised.
Print matters seldom are. Makes me wonder what those professors' credentials are to be teaching GD.
We use the Swop settings when outputting large but not the swop criteria. Can't really. But it is a means of accurate color matching in the offset world. Kool can let you know more about how it really works. Expensive though.

PrintDriver is a large format digital print dude. His advice/opinions may not apply to the 4color/offset/web world of printing

[Keyare]

We use swop for everything. Except maybe digital files when someone has designed something on their home computer and it needs that extra punch to match what they get from their injket... otherwize swop for everything.

[Holliday]

I'm interested in the answer to this too, I know NOTHING about SWOP, designing for SWOP and color matching.

[Ryan8720]

What the hell is SWOP?

http://edgewebdesign.org/ryan2.gif (http://www.edgewebdesign.org)

Quick! There is time to waste, hurry up and wait!

[Keyare]

Specifications for Web and Offset Printing.

At it's very basis it's colour matching.

You can buy 'cyan' ink from three different ink suppliers and 'cyan' toners from toner suppliers and get all different kinds of blue.
BUt if your press or printer is SWOP compliant and you make your digital file a SWOP compliant file, your colours should come out the same or similar on any SWOP comlpliant printing process - allowing for variations in film density and ink coverage and human screw ups....

If I output a file to a Swop compliant laser printer and then send the same file to a press - I can feel secure that the colours are going to be 'pleasing' - maybe not perfect, because the pressman is drunk or switched magenta for rubine red or something.. but at least it will be as accurate as humanly possible without a colour proof.

And that's where SWOP REALLY comes in handy. With everything going over the internet and colour keys are oftentimes impossible or proofs are impossible - using swop will save you a ton of headaches. IT is by no means the be-all end-all colour match that's perfect. You can never get that without a colour key or proof. But it WILL stop what you think should be a rich red from turning into a pale orange.

You have your ink densities - most press shops can calibrate their ink densities - lots of little shops can't and just go by eye. And on a small run ink densities can change throughout the print run - even on different parts of the press. But SWOP will give you a guid of what CYAN or mAGENTA is SUPPOSED to look like. At each level too - 10% cyan on a lightly run press looks totally different than on an ink-saturated press - especially at higher line screens. With SWOP you should be able to measure and verify accuracy at each level of the process.

Case: If you have an RGB jpg and you turn it to CMYK in photoshop and it looks like garbage on screen, but it prints really nice. IF YOU ARE USING A SWOP compliant printer and printing on a SWOP setting - it doesn't matter WTF it looks like on screen. You should get similar results on press. You're screen calibration is just screwed up.

Or - trying to print an RGB file to an inkjet and it looks really nice but on press it's really dull and lifeless - well, that's you're inkjet screwing you around and your imaging software. Print it using Swop to your inkjet and it'll look dull and lifeless there too - cuz that's what you're going to get on press. Best to turn it to cmyk and print it on SWOP before showing it to anyone.

anyway that's a short hack job on swop.. I'm sure Kool could be more technical ..and accurate..

[D-Zine]

That was great Key - you make learning FUN ;o) http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/emoticons/thumbsup.gif

PD..yer right...they don't teach sh!t about printing in college. WTF are they thinking?? I went to an art college and I love the school I went to but I didn't learn jack about printing...I took a job to learn what I do know and work closely with the press we use, you know, have a good working relationship with them, but most days I still think I dunno jack about it. I learn alot on here tho...very useful stuff!




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