I am a stationery small business and I used a manufacturer on alibaba to get some notebooks made. They’ve sent some progress photos and unfortunately the covers turned out awful. It’s way darker and more saturated than the design, it’s ugly.

I sent them the file in CMYK and I did a test print at home but the colours came out soft and pastel, unlike the way it turned out in their printer.

Is it my fault or their fault that the product came out way more saturated and darker?

Obviously they are dodging the issue and giving excuses such as the cover material is different and won’t print the same as other materials that I may use to test print.

But isn’t it their job to make the product look as close to the design as possible?

I sent the file to a few different devices so it’s not just that my screen is showing the colours differently. It looks nice on all screens.

What can I say to get them to reprint? I asked if they could, and they’re giving me a price for reprint (full price). TIA.

  • chestybestie@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    The manufacturer is not at fault tbh. Home printer using CMYK does not mean it’ll produce the same results even with the same materials with a commercial printer. There’s more to commercial printing than just a file format.

    This is why people pay professional designers (print) to do the work. A pro would also advise to do test runs before going full production.

    • dessskris@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      Also, isn’t this the small business sub? Why is everyone talking like my business has the capital to hire a “pro” and pay for a test run? I did ask about it but the manu said it’s going to be expensive. I only ordered 50pcs of this item so it’s not like I wasted millions. But the cost that I did pay is a huge chunk of what my shop does have. I’m a small business.