Managing customers expectations with colour variance

[MattMose]

Evening everyone,

Just had some mug designs come through which appeared simple enough but has given me a headache with some of the midtones showing through far more than I expected once pressed. A five minute job has just turned into a couple hour headache.

How does everyone go about managing the outcome of the prints compared to what the customer expects?

Do you advertise as "colours may vary" or do you persevere until you get an exact colour match to screen having fiddled with HSL/Contrast etc? I'm using the supplied colour profile and it has been acceptable I guess. I've seen people on here saying about getting a custom profile, anyone have any experience in this?

Am I being too attentive in trying to get every mug perfect? They came to me on a recommendation after seeing some of my other mugs explaining that she'd had a few "from the internet" which didn't match her expectations.

Advice welcomed!

Cheers, Matt.

[Mrteajunkie]

Have you printed and pressed them?
if so send them on and see if she’s happy with a follow up email.

you have already used the mugs so it’s just postage now.
if she’s not happy you can apologise and remake them for her but chances are it will be fine.

This is assuming the colours aren’t way out.
Are you actually using an icc profile?

So many things could affect the outcome like times and temps and pressure and ink and paper choices.
Its a mine field to get it right.

[webtrekker]

I never printed customers own designs - too much hassle! I did do personalised mugs, but only with my own designs, and the customer supplied any text.

Matching colours to a customer's expectations is a hiding to nothing. Far too many variables: ink brand and age, monitor calibration settings, ICC profile issues, printer settings, paper type and, of course, the real cruncher - do customers actually SEE the same colours as you?

[pw66]

Precise colour matching is too much aggrevation for one off/short runs of low value items. You need to word your disclaimer very well, clearly citing the 'printing process' and 'substrate' as being responsible for any colour shift. If the customer wants precise colour matching then charge them a hefty sampling/artwork fee.
Beware of customers with high expectations who are dissatisfied with there current supplier. They are usually the 'fur coat, no knickers' brigade who shop arond for the cheapest price but want a premium product. They will never be happy.

Higher value items, such as canvases, banners and panels are a different matter. So too are volume items - if Coka-Cola want 1000 coasters then you need to get their colours right.

[MattMose]

Yeah you're all confirming my thoughts haha.

I think being relatively new to this, trying to please everyone and gain repeat custom/new clients I'm maybe setting myself up for a fall. I'm confident the mugs I'm producing will hold up against most of the competition and probably exceed it in a lot of cases, but all the time and effort it's taking I'm wondering if there's a reason for that.

I'm going to have to sit down and word a disclaimer that won't scare people away. I think I need to make it clear that I can't control every variable as you all mention, just worry if people will take that as "not experienced enough to get the results" and look elsewhere.

To the drawing board we go!

[MattMose]

[MENTION=7291]Mrteajunkie[/MENTION] Sorry, didn't reply to this. Yes I'm using the Ink Experts one that's supplied. I think I've worked it out. I just have to reduce the saturation anywhere from 5-15% and it comes out almost bang on. Not an exact science though as you say.

[pw66]

I just have to reduce the saturation anywhere from 5-15% and it comes out almost bang on.

If you are adjusting the saturation in the printers own dialogue box then you are overiding the ICC profile. Colour control should be handled by the app.

[MattMose]

No I'm adjusting all the saturation at source in the app