Printing complete wrong Pantone

[lindsayg713]

I created a color chart with about 80 Pantones on it and saved it as an Illustrator PDF. In the PDF everything appears to be normal but when I sent it to the printer to print digitally the gold, lavender and turquoise printed in Pantone 1805 which is a deep red. Why did this happen and what can I do to prevent it from happening again?

[Doug A Roberts]

have you asked your printer?

[lindsayg713]

I have an email into him. Just seeing if anyone  here might know why. It did the same thing in 2 separate documents.

[MichaelStephens]

You can't digitally print Pantone colors and have them match their actual colors. Unless you're saving the chart with Pantone spot colors and having it printed using 80 different Pantone spot colors, you won't get an identical match. However, if you're attempting to get a digital print with the CMYK color breaks, did you create the document using an RGB or CMYK color mode?

[lindsayg713]

Hi Michael,

I'm aware that to receive the exact Pantone color it is done on an offset press. I am just using the Pantones as a starting out point in trying to match colored paper to digital ink.

I have not converted any of the Pantones to CMYK or RGB. I saved the document as an Illustrator PDF and sent to print. Will converting to CMYK cause the colors to change?

Thanks,

Lindsay

[Jacob Bugge]

Lindsay,

When you start out with a Pantone inks/colour and end up with CMYK, there will be a conversion somewhere to the hopefully nearest equivalents.

Either you try to do it, or you leave it to the printer.

There are (almost) no actual CMYK equivalents to Pantone colours/inks.

[lindsayg713]

I'm assuming hat the printer did the conversion because I did not. Why would the lavender and turquoise print out red though?

[Jacob Bugge]

Lindsay,

I am afraid only the printer can tell, if anyone.

[jdanek]

Let's start at the beginning.  What are you using to print?  Specifically, the make and model number of the device.  Are you printing the file or is someone else printing the file?  All desktop printers rely on either their internal hard drives and/or your computer's system memory and RAM to print your file.  In some cases like yours, the system runs out of memory and you start seeing errors in data communication ( i.e., spot color conversions ).  You are asking a little too much from your output device.  Are you using a RIP?

[MichaelStephens]

What are the color percentages for those two colors in Illustrator?

[MichaelStephens]

Yes, there will be a shift when it's printed in CMYK if you set it up as an RGB color mode document.

Other factors that can also lead to color shifting, even when you've created a CMYK color mode document, is the color profile save into the PDF, any potential RIP software used by the printer, the brightness and type of paper used in the digital printer, and if the digital printer is calibrated.