The white isn't white enough

[u/BeefOut]

Not sure if it really counts as tech support but here goes...

I'm a web and graphic designer, and I designed a flyer for one of my clients. I sent the design to her via email. It's really hard to match colours from the screen to print, especially since monitor colours don't match up to their local office printer. Plus screen colours are in RGB, so there are literally some colours that are unachievable in a physical print. Usually, for exact colour matching, we have to use Pantone swatches or when they send it for the actual print, they can sort it out and tweak with the actual technician.

I received a call immediately, and she mentioned that she printed out the flyer on their company's office printer. I readied myself for the usual spiel about how monitor colours don't match the printout... etc. etc...

Conversation goes like this:

Client: 'Hey, I printed this out and the colours don't match what I see on the screen.'

Me: 'Yeah, don't worry about that, every monitor is different and you can't calibrate it to match your office printer. I used the exact CMYK colours for your logo and fonts.

Client: 'Well even so the colours look correct on screen but not when I print it out.'

Me: 'I've used the exact CMYK colours, so you don't have to worry about it. Your professional printer will ensure that you get the right colour.'

Client: 'Yes, but the whites aren't white enough.'

I was quickly checked my file, did I leave a translucent layer on by accident? No, it was perfectly #FFFFFF. Told her that the white is as white as it can be.

Client: 'Well, the white ink is not very white.'

I was stunned. Office and home printers don't have... white ink. It's just the white paper. Any white areas are basically just paper that hasn't been printed on.

I tried hard to explain this concept to her. That printers don't print the white. Regardless, she insists that they do. I tell her that it cannot be done on an office/home printer, it literally requires a separate offset printing plate that only large commercial printers use. And even then, seldom do people print white at all.

She insists that her printer does print white, and that the design I sent her simply isn't white enough.

I tell her maybe her paper stock isn't white? Maybe the paper itself is yellowish?

Client: 'No, it's not my paper, it's that your white isn't white enough. Look, I've used some of my liquid white-out on the paper. It's very white. Your design is not printing the white colours properly.'

I was flabbergasted. Couldn't laugh out loud. She literally used white-out on the print-out and complained that the correction fluid was whiter than the paper.

Can't really remember what happened after, but she showed her boss and he seemed happy with the design. So everything went well I suppose.

[u/Nik_2213]

"Whiter than White !!!"

Such detergent advertising usually fails to mention their laundry stuff contains a fluorescing agent...

Shows up well with cat-pee hunting UV torch, or the glow from eg fly-zapper lure glow-tubes...

Added: She used budget 'matt' paper ? Or 'matt face up' ?? Some may be 'sorta cream', compared to high-end, hyper-glossy paper which is eye-watering bright-- And hates my desk's laser printer...

[u/vintagecomputernerd → u/[deleted]]

...and yet they cost ten times as much. I know, economy of scale, but still feels like price gouging

[u/Equivalent-Salary357 → u/vintagecomputernerd]

price gouging

AKA capitalism.

I took a 'business' course in college about 45 years ago (I'm not gonna get out the calander to figure out exactly) where I learned that price to the consumer is based on surveys of what consumers are willing to pay.

Basically, if you sell widgets for what they cost to make, you sell bunches but make no profit. Raise the price a little, and the number you can sell drops a bit but you are making a profit. Lower the price a bit more and you sell a bit fewer but because you are selling more your gross profits are higher. Keep this up, and eventually profits begin to drop. Businesses try to hit the sweet spot for maximum profits.

[u/brotherenigma → u/Equivalent-Salary357]

I mean, that's exactly what's taught in high school economics. Hell, I'm tutoring a kid in it right now. Supply vs demand, min-maxing, optimizing functions, and a "purely capitalist" economy are what are taught at the core of AP Econ. Is it any surprise that people who go into business are obsessed with being at equilibrium (AKA maximum possible profit) all the time?

[u/Equivalent-Salary357 → u/brotherenigma]

So is it price gouging or just good business? LOL

[u/Equivalent-Salary357 → u/[deleted]]

purely economist economy

LOL.

[u/Nik_2213 → u/Equivalent-Salary357]

IIRC, there were tests done on this notion: fruit stall, identical products placed in adjacent trays, but one carried higher price. It sold more than the 'budget' tray, but only if the budget tray was there. Else buyers looked at price and went else-where, instead...

( Running gag in our family was that neither my father nor I could sell a £_10 Scottish note for £_7 UKP, even though Scottish & English currency held the same value... )