Why colors shift between preview and print
Customer monitors show RGB. Presses print CMYK. RGB has a wider gamut than CMYK, so some colors visible on screen cannot be printed exactly. The conversion to CMYK is governed by an ICC profile — and if the profile is wrong, colors shift visibly.
Three common causes of visible color shift: wrong target ICC profile, no source profile assumption, and rendering intent set incorrectly.
Diagnosis 1: Check the target ICC profile
Open PrintIntegrator → Settings → Output → ICC Profile. The profile here should match what your press expects. Common targets:
- US offset (coated paper): GRACoL 2013
- US offset (uncoated): SWOP 2013
- European offset (coated): ISO Coated v2 / FOGRA39
- European offset (uncoated): PSO Uncoated v3 / FOGRA52
- Digital toner press: typically uses the press's own profile (Indigo, Xerox)
- Inkjet: profile depends on substrate (canvas, photo paper, vinyl)
Diagnosis 2: Source profile assumption
When a customer uploads an RGB image without an embedded profile, the system has to assume one. Default is sRGB.
If customers are designers uploading from Photoshop with Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB workspaces, sRGB assumption clips the gamut and colors shift. Configure the assumed source profile in Settings → Output → Source Profile.
Diagnosis 3: Rendering intent
Rendering intent controls how out-of-gamut colors are mapped. Four options:
- Perceptual — best for photographs, compresses the gamut smoothly
- Relative colorimetric — best for spot-color-heavy designs, keeps in-gamut colors exact
- Saturation — best for charts and graphics, preserves saturation at the cost of accuracy
- Absolute colorimetric — for proofing only, not typical production
Default is perceptual. For brand-color-critical work, switch to relative colorimetric and add an explicit Pantone callout in the design rules.