Prep business card for CMYK

[suzyjazz]

I contacted Krailo Printing about printing business cards. They quoted me 1000 cards for $78.50. I don't really need that many cards, but it's not a bad price and thenI will never have to buy them again! Also, I am desperate and I need them quickly. They want a file in CMYK. I use Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 and I am sure I have seen the option to change to CMYK. I am just worried about spending $78.50 and the color coming out funny. The lady on the phone kept saying if I printed it at home and I liked it, it would be fine there. So I think I am going to prepare the file over the weekend and have it printed somewhere closeby on 4x6 prints to see how it looks. But if the location where I have it printed as a test doesn't want it in CMYK, won't it come out funky? I just don't know about all this stuff.

[ZONE]

You are printing your cards 4 color process?

[PictureCow]

Hi Suzy...

That won't help you because 4x6 prints will be done with three lazers in RGB not traditional off set printing. That's a completely different color space.

I don't use elements but I'm pretty sure it's just like photo shop. To change a file to CMYK you go to "IMAGE" mode and then select CMYK.

I think you're paying too much for the cards though. And that's a BAZILLION cards. As a photographer your cards should change often. You'd be better off going to some place like www.overnightprints.com They do a nice job and it's WAY WAY WAY cheaper
You can get 1000 cards for $39.99 You get them pretty much over night too. A short run of 100 cards is only $9.95.

[Mike G]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...type=printable

Suzy dislikes overnightprints.com .. or is dislikes to mild of a word?

[PictureCow]

I don't get it... the link takes me to something about target....

There are tons of cheap online printing places... www.vistaprint.com is another one.

[PictureCow]

LOL okay just read your post about bad service from overnight prints...SORRY!

www.WHCC.com also offers offset printing on an indidgo press. It's actually pretty nice and printed at a tighter linescreen than many of these quick print places. Prices are reasonable too.

I'm a graphic designer too btw so if you want to PM me and send me your source file I'll take a look and see what your color looks like.

[suzyjazz]

They said not to worry about the 4 color thing. They said it's how magazines are printed. But I don't think I am going to do it now.

I went to WHCC last night but saw nothing about business cards. I guess it's in their price book PDF file? That PDF file is really long!

Vistaprint... yeah that is one I forgot about. I will look into it, thanks for the reminder. But I'm getting into a timeframe of having to pay for overnight shipping. Why did I procrastinate so much?

I think you're right about it being too many cards. I don't know what I am going to do....

[Mike G]

Originally Posted by PictureCow

I don't get it... the link takes me to something about target....

There are tons of cheap online printing places... www.vistaprint.com is another one.

BAH .. my copy didn't work and I didn't notice it .. I was refering to the thread you read of her's

[PictureCow]

Originally Posted by suzyjazz

They said not to worry about the 4 color thing. They said it's how magazines are printed. But I don't think I am going to do it now.

I went to WHCC last night but saw nothing about business cards. I guess it's in their price book PDF file? That PDF file is really long!

Vistaprint... yeah that is one I forgot about. I will look into it, thanks for the reminder. But I'm getting into a timeframe of having to pay for overnight shipping. Why did I procrastinate so much?

I think you're right about it being too many cards. I don't know what I am going to do....

Actually anything that is printed in 4 color on a press is CMYK. That means it's printed with four plates. CYAN, YELLOW, MAGENTA and BLACK. If they said they're not printing in CMYK then that makes me think they're printing on a color copy machine which would be mediocre quality at best. The toner is fused to the paper with oil and will crack and pick off. Not good.

Whomever may have been implying that they'll go ahead and covert your file which about 80% of the time will be okay. It really depends on your file and color spaces you use to create your images to begin with. Again... I'm more than happy to take a look at your file if you're worried about it.

Remember these places gang print the files... so your job is going to be printed with many many other jobs at the same time. The press operator has a lot to do with the quality of your cards. If you happen to be placed next to someone who's card has a lot of ink coverage sometimes the rollers will transfer a tint onto your card. So...it's not custom prining but for a good cheap fast card it's not bad. :)

Here's the link to WHCC cards. Indigo is a digital offset printer which is a little different technology. They do beautiful work too... and are very good about color management.

http://www.whcc.com/pricing/whcc_200...ducts_0206.pdf

[suzyjazz]

Yes, Krailo does CMYK but I decided I don't want that big of an order. I want to to go with VistaPrint, but I can't use PSE to convert to CMYK! Image > Mode... Choices are Bitmap, Grayscale, Indexed Color and RGB Color. I downloaded VistaPrint's template, and PSE gave me a message about an unsupported color space, so I guess that was in CMYK.

PictureCow, if you don't mind helping me then maybe I can send the file to you and you can convert it, see if it looks OK, and then send it back to me and I will upload it? I don't know what else to do. Stupid bargain software!

[Abel]

just keep in mind when going from a 3 color to 4 color mode the image may look flat... similar to your results with overnight prints...

you have to edit the file in CMYK to make sure it looks good again.

[PictureCow]

You can also work in RGB and use the CMYK preview (cntl Y). Then convert it at the very end. If you're working on a large file working in CMYK can make everything run slow... so the preview allows you work in the space without actually changing the color until you're ready to.

[petert]

Originally Posted by suzyjazz

Vistaprint... yeah that is one I forgot about. I will look into it, thanks for the reminder. But I'm getting into a timeframe of having to pay for overnight shipping. Why did I procrastinate so much?

I used these guys to print my cards... they're cheap and quick, especially if you're willing to select one of their pre-programmed backgrounds (I think trying out all their options took longer than actually placing and receiving the order!). A few days later, I had a box of pro-looking cards with little fuss on my part... since it seems you're under a time crunch, deal with the custom upload later (and avoid the stress now).