Does anyone know why my printer would be printing a different color than what I see on my screen? I'm working on my logo/graphic for my business cards, stickers, etc. My colors are aqua & brown...so I thought. I printed out a sample onto some card stock and it's coming out more of a blue?? (Check out the logo/graphic thread in the cake business forum to see the color I'm talking about) Cartridge has plenty of ink & I've cleaned the heads & aligned & calibrated and all that...but still the wrong color is being printed! I'm hoping someone familiar with color settings between pc/printer can give me some advice...need to get these printed today...TIA!

to make a long lesson short...blame physics.

montor: color produced directly by light (Red/Green/Blue pixel triad)
printer/paper: color seen as light reflecte by pigments.

RARELY if ever will they match exactly (graphic designers use high-end -- aka multi thousand dollar montiors and printers and a system called Pantone) to make it all work out as expected.

for we poor simple home users, best is to create a test print chart (easy way is to create a table in Word and then color each cell a different color using format table and shading tab) and print it out. You might even, if you know how, want to create custom color definitions to get it to the exact shade you want it to be on your printer.

Another problem is also your color settings on your monitor are probably not calibrated correctly.

Heck pictures look different just between the three different monitors jackie and I have in the office.

You may need to read through your monitor manual to learn how to calibrate it correctly. Or do a search on google for calibrating your model number.

color is very subjective to the human eye and the reason Macbeth color charts (photography), test patterns (TV) and the Pantone Matching System were created to standardize as best as possible how color is rendered by various output devices (printers, tvs, film, etc)

even if and that's a big if the monitor is calibrated correctly, there can still be enormous variance monitor to monitor (age, phosphores, even where it is sitting in relation can affect the quality)

and when you toss in the variance between printers and their inks...hoo boy what a mess (try it.... take a digital photo and print it out on several different printers....types/brands...and you will soon see the problem)

there are add on devices that can be purchased (special calibration devices) but at Big $$$$.

for simple home use, a test chart of the colors present as the standard set, and the creation of custom colors still is the easiest way to get the desired results. In my experience (3 years w/ newspaper advising and 5 w/ yearbook and 24 w/ programs for plays and concerts) I have found nothing that is cheaper and easier.

Thank you both for all of your advice. Unfortunately, my printing is on hold for now because my computer crashed last night (See the 'Monday, Monday' thread in the Lounge for further explanation) I'm using DH's laptop for now, but don't have my graphic on it to print. It looks like I may just have to recreate them here and print them with his printer...and I haven't had the same color issue with his equipment as I have with mine. And I thought I had the better pc equipment...lol. Mine's a Sony Vaio w/ HP Photosmart printer...His is Compaq pc w/HP 3-in-1 psc. lol Oh, well.