Last week, General Manager Zhang, an old customer, held two different batches of picture albums and frowned: "Why is the same design draft so different in color? Customers thought that our product packaging was so unstable!" This pain point is too real. What's the problem? The answer may be hidden in the most overlooked starting point-that seemingly unremarkable stack of paper. When you hand over the well-designed company album that carries the brand image to the customer, you find that the colors printed in different batches have "their own merits"-this batch is brightly red, but the next batch is dull; The dark blue is sometimes steady and sometimes purple. It's simply a silent blow to brand professionalism. Customers inevitably mutter in their hearts: Even the color of picture albums can't be controlled, can the product quality be stable?

When many printing factories encounter color complaints, their first reaction is to adjust machines and change ink, which is time-consuming and laborious. But experience tells us that tracing back to the source, the "silent background color" of paper is the driving force behind more than 70% of batches of color difference. It is not a passive carrier, but a key variable that actively participates in color presentation.

Why can paper "steal" your color consistency? Imagine the moment the ink falls on the paper：

Different "appetite" for ink absorption: the ink absorption capacity of different batches of paper, even if the model is the same, may change quietly. For paper with strong ink absorption, the ink quickly "sinks" down, and the color appears dry and stuffy; If the ink absorption is weak, the ink floats on the surface, but the color is bright, but it is easy to rub dirty.

Difference between whiteness and tone "base": The paper is not pure white. Cooler paper (white on blue background) will make the color printed on it more "cold"; Warmer paper (white on yellow background) gives all colors a layer of warmth. The blue color of the same brand Logo is printed on paper of different whiteness, and the visual experience is very different.

The smoothness "stage" is uneven: the surface of the paper is bumpy, and after the ink fills these "gullies", the reflected light is scattered and the color appears dim; The surface is as smooth as a mirror, the ink is evenly laid flat, and the color is naturally full and bright. The same box of business cards has different feel on the front and back, and the color look and feel are often different.

"Constitution" is unstable: Paper is extremely sensitive to ambient temperature and humidity. When the humidity in the warehouse is high, the edge of the paper absorbs moisture and expands, the printing is inaccurate, and the color shades are different; The workshop is too dry, and the paper generates static electricity, which adsorbs dust and affects the color purity. Especially cross-seasonal printing has the highest risk.

Want to lock in color consistency? We must "tie the fence" from the source of paper.：

Look for the "ID card", batch management is the bottom line: don't just recognize the brand and model! There may be subtle differences in different production batches of the same model, or even different large packages of the same batch. Strictly recording and locking a single batch of paper for the same album project is the iron law to ensure color. A reliable printing factory, the warehouse is managed like a library, and the "birth certificate" of every batch of paper is clear and checkable.

The "tasting" link can't be omitted: before getting on the machine, use the ink actually used in the project to proof the target paper. This is not taking the form, but looking at the color "landing" effect under real printing conditions. It is best to keep the standard proofs and directly compare them when printing subsequent batches. Don't underestimate this step, it can intercept the "rollover" caused by most papers in advance.

Give paper a "comfortable home": A print shop is not a warehouse. Paper needs to enter the printing environment 24-48 hours in advance (temperature and humidity are constant), so that the internal moisture of paper can be fully balanced with the workshop environment. This is called "paper drying" or "printing-suitable treatment". This step is not done in place. When printing on the computer, the paper size is changing subtly, and the color registration is a problem, let alone stability.

Choose the right "comrades-in-arms" and build long-term trust: in-depth cooperation with large paper mills with good reputation and strict quality control. Their production process is stable, and the difference between batches is controlled less. Don't just be cheap, in order to save a few cents of paper price, gamble on the quality and reputation of brand albums, which is not worth the candle.

When the paper is stable, color consistency has a foundation. Coupled with precise machine adjustment, standardized ink management and experienced captain operation, every album can be as accurate and consistent as "cloned" whenever it is printed. Behind this is the strict control of the supply chain and the refined management of the production process by the printing factory.

Company Album PrintingIt's never a simple "machine printing of design drafts". It is a set of interlocking precision systems, and paper is the most basic and easily underestimated "Mr. Key" in this system. When you prepare to print the company album next time, you might as well ask one more question: "Which batch of paper is used for these albums? Have you done computer testing and strict environmental management?" The answer probably determines whether you get a professional image business card that stunns customers or a problem sample that exposes the shortcomings of the supply chain. Keeping an eye on the source of paper is to lock the color soul and quality bottom line of brand albums. Let every picture album become a trustworthy silent spokesperson for your brand.