Color brightness

[Rock_Biker]

Hello,

This weekend I met a girl who bought my “Caledonia” contrast hoodie. It was the first time I saw the design on clothing in real. I was really shocked! Please take a look at both images… one from the shop and one taken in real life. I know, the picture was taken when it was dark, but I also saw the result in daylight. It is still awfull! I could barely see the motorcycles in the back, and the colors of the bagpiper are very pale/vague. This was not a good promotion for me. The next day I saw the design on a t-shirt aswell. That one was bought August 30th. Also bad quality. Was that done by the new laser technique?

Kind regards, AJ

[Sara]

@Julia-Spreadshirt, is this something you know about or is the best place to ask from our customer service…?

It’s always possible that there’s been a printing mistake but it’s also impossible to say for certain without better pictures and more information. But let’s see if Julia can help

[Julia-Spreadshirt]

The design you use is a very dark one with less contrast. This design printed on a very dark product is at the end… very dark
All I can see on this photo looks ok for me, the white seems to be right so the rest of the design is the result of less contrast and the combination of dark on dark.
A 1:1 print maybe will only be possible with screenprints.

[Thomas_Spreadshop]

One tip from my side for complex multi-colored designs:

If you know in advance, that your design will be printed on dark garment, you may want to enhance the colors or brightness. In Photoshop there is a setting for “vibrancy” and levels which is handy for this.
Push every color value a little bit over it´s intended shade.
Because the dark garment absorbs a lot from the original brightness, it´s better to come with a plus in advance, to balance the loss.

[Rock_Biker]

I am very sorry, but I am not satisfied with the answers. I saw the design in real for the first time and the difference is VERY BIG!!! I do understand that there will be a difference… but this much? NO!!! Don’t you guys check before sending out orders? (with the original design)

[Rock_Biker]

To strengthen my arguement, please take a look at another example. Also a complex multi-colored design on a dark shirt. There is a difference too, but this is acceptable. Looks very nice in real.

When will your printing change to laser printing? Was that already used the 30th of August? I read it could handle more colors.

[Sara]

That looks really good for sure! And I understand your dilemma here.

@Julia-Spreadshirt, do you think this is a contras issue, too?

@Rock_Biker, if Julia here can’t give you a satisfying answer - I’d recommend for you to get in touch with our design service (designs at spreadshirt dot net) with clear pictures so they can figure out how to optimise the print for the garment. Your customer can get a free exchange in any case. If f.ex. simply increasing contrast on this particular design helps to solve the problem, that’s good - right?

[Julia-Spreadshirt]

I had a closer look at your designs. They are very nice by the way
Your designs mostly have a little bit less contrast and are too dark. So I try to rework one of your designs a little bit and make a test print.

[Julia-Spreadshirt]

Here you can see the result. I printed the design on a navy Hoodie. As you can see the rough struckture of the Hoodie can be seen through the design and the pattern in the background is much too dark. The pattern at the kilt has too little contrast. But all together it is a good result.
I you print the design on a t-shirt with less structure and a smoother surface the design also will have a cleaner look.

[Rock_Biker]

I agree Julia, this looks much better. But still… I think that the designer/shopowner is responsible for giving their best effort to create beautiful designs without being worried about the print quality. In my view that should be the responsibilty of the company who does the printing. I think it’s kinda odd that we have to calculate in advance that the design might get much darker than intended. Nevertheless…I will ask the designer to make the designs brighter in the future.

Thank you for your answers.

[Sara]

I mean I get it, this is a tough nut. We do recommend ordering test products but obviously you can’t order a test product for every single design, product and colour…?

I’ll put the word forward - the least we can do is f.ex feature a blog post on this topic, giving our top tips to shop owners BEFORE they get their first sales

Valuable feedback, thanks!

[Sara]

Hey, we did a blog post on this topic Check it out!

Optimise Designs For Better Results and Happier Customers - The Spreadshirt...