What does 3 colors mean to you?

[imageconstrux]

I've held a few contests and seen some as well where the contest holder stipulates 2 colors, or 3 colors. When I read '2 colors', I'm thinking of if a design is created in vinyl, like for vehicle lettering, that two colors would be black and white. A shade of grey would represent a third color. I different shade of grey would be a fourth.

What is your definition of '3 colors'?

[cre8or]

Three colours (as far as printing goes) is, for example Red, Blue and Black.
A single colour design (again in printing) could be Black and
every "tint" of black (greys) you can imagine: 0% (white) to 100% (Black)
This could also appy to "Blue" for example PMS 281: 0% - 100%
A four-colour design could be 1. Four spot colours, or 2. Process Colour (CMYK)

Vinyl is something totally different.
Vinyl comes on rolls of assorted solid colours,
and if you had a 3-colour design -- Say Black, WHite and Grey , it would require the 3 shades of vinyl.

Inks on the other hand, can be visually blended to create all colours.
For example: Pick up any magazine and it's printed in 4-colours: CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black)
This may not apply to some specailty magazines, that may use special spot colours or varnishes.

[imageconstrux]

Yup - I appreciate that info, and am somewhat familiar with it - but if I say '4 colors' to you, does that mean 'Woo-hoo! The sky's the limit - 1 million colors here I come!', or does it mean 'I can have 2 shades of green, black and white'.

The reason I ask is, most all of the green industry logos being created will most likely end up on signs, T-shirts and trucks. Each of those mediums count 3 shades of yellow as three colors, and the price of that printing goes up accordingly. So a '2 color' logo may well be 9 or 10 colors when it comes to screen printing or vinyl - which from my end, makes it much more pricey than I'd like.

Ultimately the path I'm wandering down is: Do we need to create some way of identifying what 'colors' mean, so that there is a clear understanding between designer and contest holder? I'm picturing a contest holder 1 month from now talking on the phone to their T-shirt company - "What do you mean the T-shirts are going to cost $35 apiece?" Just thinking a clearer understanding up front will help everyone down the road.

Just MHO,


Jeff

[ElKootcho]

As a "print designer" I think of color in the offset print world. In the attached image the green area is 1 color because it's several tints of 1 PMS color.

I understand where the trouble would come in with vinyl or screen printing because they would consider it 4 colors. Even worse, if I was to put this on a dark garment, the screen printer would likely have to put down a white color underneath making a total of five colors.

In the real world, if a logo was to be used for print AND screen printing, two files would need to be created if cost is a concern unless the chosen logo uses only limited inks with no tints to begin with. Sometimes this is possible and sometimes not. It falls primarily on the shoulders of the contest holder to understand what they are going to do with their logo and what the associated limitations are. If someone is going to have a logo designed with the idea of putting it on their car or on a shirt, it's up to them to find a vendor and research the associated costs and file requirements BEFORE outsourcing the graphics.

Yup - I appreciate that info, and am somewhat familiar with it - but if I say '4 colors' to you, does that mean 'Woo-hoo! The sky's the limit - 1 million colors here I come!', or does it mean 'I can have 2 shades of green, black and white'.

If someone came to me and said that they needed a four color logo, I would think full-blown CMYK printing unless I was told otherwise. There are several sources to get photorealictic car graphics, full-color buiness cards and 4-color process screen printing so it's entirely plausable.

When you conducted your Stonehenge contest, you knew what you needed and stated your color requirements in the original post. Likewise it's was up to you to review the entries to determine if they meet your criteria, which course you did. Every contest holder needs to do the same. Unless stated, the designer only has the limited information posted to design by.

[imageconstrux]

Kootch, I'm with you. And having been down the road of T-shirts, truck lettering, and the digerati a few times, I feel comfortable knowing what to ask for. However, while possibly sounding a bit full of myself, I think I'm probably more savvy when it comes to those things than many of the people in my industry who would post here.

My goal is not to point a finger at a right or wrong. I just see the potential for miscommunication between people of different fields and want to head it off at the pass if at all possible. Maybe it could part of a primer for contest holders or something.

As for photo-realistic vinyl graphics, I've seen a website for something like that - $3,500 for the job, but it's a head-to-toe graphic for car or truck. Very eye-catching, but also very expensive. Escpecially when you may have a fleet of trucks driven by people who may have a less than stellar driving record, or less the adequate skill on equipment that would be loading those trucks.

[Nick]

Maybe this would be a good thing to put in a FAQ?

Nick