Color transfer from monitor to printer: some considerations - 055

Business cards, flyers, magazine advertisements and shirts...these are more than just common items in business; they are representations of you and your company. Business printing is demanding because it requires tremendous attention to color rendering, resolution and sizing. Custom printing, which often utilizes freehand images, color blends and different scale lettering, can be especially challenging for a company printing job. However, with business professionals increasingly trending towards online printing to meet their advertising and promotional needs, having basic knowledge about the process of image transfer from computer monitor to printer is paramount.

Private and company printing jobs alike are increasingly becoming computer-based. It is easier to design and visualize a finished product when online printing and color programs lay it all out, but this is also where some of the confusion starts. A modern computer can create millions of color possibilities, and so the difference between the screen and the finished product can be substantial. When an image is being created on the computer, the computer's monitor backlights that image so that all of it appears bright and clear. However, the final product may look very different when applied to a colored flyer or T-shirt or when different finishes are used. Likewise, a custom printing job could include colored letters which appear quite bold on the computer screen but then become stretched out on the final product, losing their initial intensity. Alternately, a low resolution printer might produce very small, choppy images and letters that cannot be differentiated from one another. Successful online printing requires an understanding of the inherent differences between the computer screen and the printer. A computer translates an image into pixels per inch (ppi) while a printer uses dots per inch (dpi). Image resolution is therefore measured in ppi while printing resolution is measured in dpi. The general rule to follow when performing any kind of business printing is to set the ppi to be at least one-third (or even one-half) of the dpi of the printer. In this way, the color intensity of the screen image is better maintained. Overall, obtaining a high quality print means making the right decisions up front. Just because an image looks good on the desktop does not mean it will appear the same way in reality. Therefore, it is always to your advantage to ask questions when choosing a professional print shop. It is also advisable that you choose an established company, look through its printing options, decide what is needed and then contact the printer. Expect some questions, since that is what good customer service is all about.

And if you work with an online printing company like 4over4.com you can be rest assured that any print job you request (canvas prints, brochure printing, label printing) will be performed in the highest quality materials and the result will be perfect as a professional will review your file before it is actually printed to ensure said result. Visit https://www.4over4.com for more information.