By DTG
Short answer
Brand colors, Pantone and similar, are everywhere in commercial printing, and a color-managed workflow with soft proofing can warn you that something is off before it reaches the press. For that to work, you need a calibrated monitor, ICC profiles, and a printer profile. For commercial printing and proofing, add a printer that is linearized regularly so it stays in line.
Have a question about color-accurate monitors? Talk to DTG or call 813.889.0660 (toll-free 800.681.0024).
Our most common in-bound tech support call is “why don’t my prints match my monitor?” “The brand color is exactly right on my screen, so why is the print off?” Brand work is where that question gets expensive, because the color has to be right in front of a client. This guide explains why color-accurate monitors matter for brand and commercial printing.
How do brand colors show up in print work?
Much as they do in sign printing, very commonly. Brand and company colors, often defined as Pantone or similar spot colors, appear in the files customers send, and the shop is expected to reproduce them. The color has to be right in the file, on the screen and on the press.
What goes wrong when no one can trust the screen?
When the screen is unreliable, color becomes a matter of opinion:
- Brand colors drift. A color that looks right on one screen looks different on another, so the same logo lands in different shades across jobs.
- Prints do not match approvals. The client approved a color on screen. The press delivers something else, and nobody can say who is right.
- Reprints and wasted stock. Misjudged color is often found late, after paper, ink and press time have been spent.
- Client disputes. Without a shared reference, a disagreement about color turns into a disagreement about who pays.
- Endless revisions. Designers chase a color on screen that was never wrong in the file.
How can soft proofing warn prepress before a job runs?
In a color-managed workflow with soft proofing, the screen becomes an early-warning system for prepress operators and preflight technicians. If something is not quite right, it shows. The cause might be the color in the file. It might be a setting, such as a missing embedded source profile or the wrong working color space. Either way, the problem is visible on screen right away, provided the operator knows the client’s colors and the screen can be trusted.
That is why the monitor sits at the center of the chain. A warning only helps if the screen is showing accurate color.
What about brand colors the printer can’t reproduce?
A defined brand color is not always a color your printer can print. Digital printers simulate spot colors with their own inks, and some spot colors lie outside what a given printer and media can reproduce. A soft proof shows you the difference between the brand color and the achievable print color, so you can talk to the client before the job runs. A calibrated monitor makes that preview honest.
The profile matters here too. DTG offers a custom ICC printer profiling service that builds a profile for your printer, RIP, media and ink, and our soft-proofing support guide (or our newer Eizo ColorEdge photo and fine-art print-proofing guide) explains how to use profiles on screen.
What workflow do we recommend for brand and commercial work?
All of the following, together:
- Monitor calibration and profiling. Every designer, prepress operator and press checker works from the same known target. You can state the white point and brightness your team uses, so a color discussion starts from known numbers.
- ICC profiles for your source and working color spaces, embedded where they belong.
- A printer profile for the printer, media and ink that will run the job.
- A regularly linearized printer, for commercial printing and proofing. Linearizing keeps drift in line, so the profile you built keeps describing what the printer actually does.
Read hardware vs software calibration, or follow our calibration support guide.
Where the calibrator lives. On an Eizo ColorEdge CG model, the calibrator is built in: a sensor in the front bezel swings out in front of the screen when it is needed, so there is no separate device to hang on the monitor, and it can recalibrate on a schedule you set. A ColorEdge CS model uses an external Eizo sensor that you attach to the screen when you calibrate, which we suggest doing every two to four weeks. Both do direct hardware calibration.
Does the method matter more than the spec sheet?
Contrast ratio, dot pitch and peak brightness make good marketing, but they say little about whether a brand red will hold. What matters is how the monitor calibrates. With direct hardware calibration, the sensor’s results go into the monitor’s own look-up table (LUT), instead of passing through the computer’s video card, which tends to give smoother tones and steadier results from desk to desk. Eizo lists a 16-bit LUT on the CG2700S, CG2700X, CG2400S, CS2400S, CS2731 and CS2740, and the calibration is stored in the monitor.
How do I soft proof brand artwork in Photoshop?
A quick routine for checking brand artwork against the real output:
- Calibrate and profile the monitor first. Soft proofing on an uncalibrated screen only gives you a confident wrong answer.
- Make sure you have an ICC profile for the exact printer, paper or media, and ink you will use.
- Open the image in Photoshop and choose View > Proof Setup > Custom.
- In the dialog that opens, pick your printer and media profile as the device to simulate, and choose the rendering intent you plan to print with.
- Click OK and watch the image shift. That shift is the print’s likely color and tone range, shown on your screen. Toggle View > Proof Colors to flip between the proof and the original.
- Make your corrections while the proof is on, then print with the same rendering intent you proofed with.
Menu names can vary between Photoshop versions. Whatever program you use, soft proof against the printer and paper that will run the job.
Do wide gamut and room light matter?
Many brand colors are bright and saturated. A wide-gamut monitor shows more of them. Eizo lists 99% Adobe RGB coverage for the CG and CS models in our guide, and 98% DCI-P3 on models such as the CG2700S and CG2400S. The printer’s gamut is what finally counts. A wide screen can show a color that your press or digital printer cannot produce, and a profile and a soft proof warn you before the job runs, not after.
Match the screen’s white point and brightness to the light you use to judge proofs, so the screen does not look brighter than the printed sample. Many teams land around 80 to 120 cd/m², but let a side-by-side proof guide the final value. A hood blocks stray light on the screen. The CG models in our guide include one, and it is optional on CS models. We carry the Eizo CH2710 hood for 27-inch ColorEdge monitors.
Which Eizo for a brand-focused team?
Our rule of thumb: if you are someone who has to have the best, choose the CG. But the CS is about 99% of the CG for display accuracy, consistency and color gamut, so it is a very sound monitor for color work. The CG adds two conveniences. One is the automatic calibrator built in, so no one has to hang an external sensor on the screen. The other is a near-instant warm-up: in our experience a CG shows accurate color and brightness within a couple of minutes, while a CS takes around 15 minutes.
- CG models have the sensor built in, which suits a team that wants calibration to run automatically at every desk. See the CG2700S or the 4K CG2700X.
- CS models use an external Eizo sensor, which suits teams comfortable running it. See the CS2731 and CS2740 bundles.
Our CG vs CS guide compares them in detail.
Can I just calibrate the monitor I already have?
Yes. Calibrating and profiling the monitor you already own is much better than leaving it uncalibrated, but it is not the same as an Eizo ColorEdge. A Calibrite calibrator measures your screen and builds a profile, and the correction is applied through the computer’s video card. What you see on screen is changed and brought in line with the calibration target, so colors are far more predictable. It is just not as accurate or as clean as hardware calibration, which writes the correction into the monitor’s own memory (its look-up table) and generally keeps tones smoother and color steadier. That is how Eizo ColorEdge monitors work. A calibrator improves the consistency and quality of what a monitor shows, but it can only do so much: if the monitor itself, such as a laptop screen, is lower quality, there is a limit to what calibration can fix. A Calibrite will not turn an average monitor into an Eizo ColorEdge.
Here is our honest ranking: no calibration, then a Calibrite on your existing monitor, then Eizo hardware calibration (a CG with the sensor built in, or a CS with an external Eizo sensor). DTG sells the Calibrite Display Pro HL and the entry-level Display 123; see all Calibrite calibrators. To compare the Eizo route, read our CG vs CS guide. Not sure which fits your screen? Ask DTG.
Questions we hear
Can a monitor match a spot color exactly?
A calibrated monitor gives a close on-screen simulation, and a soft proof shows how your printer and media will handle the color. Because a screen emits light and paper reflects it, a perfect match is not possible.
How does a color-managed workflow reduce reprints?
Soft proofing gives prepress and preflight a warning when something is off, in the file or in settings like a missing embedded profile or the wrong working color space. Catching it on screen is cheaper than catching it on press.
Is a budget monitor good enough for brand work?
If all your customers want is pleasing color, it may be. If you print for professionals who expect accurate color, spend a bit more. It quickly pays for itself in saved time and materials.
Why does a printer need linearizing?
For commercial printing and proofing, a regularly linearized printer keeps drift in line, so your profiles stay accurate.
How do several designers stay consistent?
Calibrate every monitor to the same target on a regular schedule.
Talk to DTG
If your work depends on brand color and client sign-off, DTG is an authorized Eizo reseller in Tampa, FL. Tell us what you print and we will help you choose a monitor, a sensor and a workflow that fit your work. A DTG color specialist follows up personally.
Call us: 813.889.0660 or toll-free 800.681.0024.
You can also contact us online or browse the Eizo ColorEdge monitors we carry.
About the author: The author has been providing color management and printing solutions to the fine art reproduction, digital photography, sign making, proofing and digital textile markets since 1993, and has been writing, training and teaching on the subject for various publications and in many different forums over the years.
Keep reading
- Why doesn’t my print match my screen? (start here)
- Color-accurate monitors for fine art reproduction
- Color-accurate monitors for photo printing
- Color-accurate monitors for sign printing
- Eizo ColorEdge CG vs CS: which series to buy
- Match your Eizo monitor to your printer: soft proofing
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