how important is monitor calibration?

[guest00]

when drawing pics digitaly, there is a huge color difference between lappy and pc monitor. the pic is much brighter or too bright on my lappy and the pc monitor is either ok or a bit too dark. since i want the color to show how they really are i thought of calibrating the monitor. now i m thinking if thats really necessary and i have been wondering when you actually do need to calibrate the monitor. i think when you design a website having a calibrated monitor is not that important since the colors are being displayed on every monitor differently anyway, unlike when you print out a design a calibrated monitor is important? where else is it important to have a calibrated monitor?

another question i thought of now: what if your monitor is calibrated and you design a website for a client. on your monitor everything looks good but on the client's it doesnt? do you adjust the colors so that it will look ok on the client's monitor or what do you do?

[DesignVHL]

Every monitor will be different. The point of calibration is so you have consistant color throughout your own process. So you would calibrate your laptop, your pc monitor, your scanner, your printer, and anything else that deals with color so that you can get as close as possible. I have not done any calibration myself, other than internal software, but I plan to, and do think it is very important. For the best color mgmt imho however, is to use color swatches and books for print as often as possible - unless you already know how something will look through experience. And for web, test on as many machines as you can.

My own website that I designed on my mac at home looks how i want it to, but on my pc at work, the color shift is very apparent. No matter what, its not going to be consistant for visitors, so you just have to keep that in mind when you design.