Design Tip of the Week – Monitor Calibration

We’re excited to debut a new weekly feature on the PrintFirm Blog – The Design Tip of the Week. Each week we’ll offer a handy tip that may help you add a new dimension to your graphic designs. Since this is the first in what will hopefully be a long-running feature, let’s start with a basic and fundamental process needed to achieve a satisfying printed work – Monitor Calibration.

Calibrating a monitor is necessary to display colors and tones to match the standard settings used for output, such as luminosity and color. Through the standardization of monitor settings achieved by calibration, you’ll have more confidence that the image displayed onscreen will be reflected in the printed piece.

A screen calibration device such as Pantone’s huey ($89; www.pantone.com) or X-Rite’s Eye-One Display LT ($169; www.xrite.com) will assure correct color matching to the printer. There are also free options for Mac and Windows users that can help calibrate the display. However they are not as accurate or as easy as a good colorimeter.

Calibrating on Mac OS X

Preset monitor profiles are available in the Display Preferences pane. Go to System Preferences, click Displays, and then click the Color tab. You’ll see a list of profiles you can use for your photography, such as Adobe RGB.



Apple Color Chart

We also suggest creating your own profile. While in Displays, click the Calibrate button. You’ll then go through the basic steps of visual color calibration. It’s not as accurate as the mechanical calibration a colorimeter can perform, but it’s a giant step in the right direction.



Apple Calibration Assistant


Calibrating on Windows

Stock monitor profiles are also available on Windows PCs. In Vista, right-click on your desktop and choose Personalize from the contextual menu, and then choose Display Settings. Click the Advanced Settings button, click the Color Management tab, and then click the Color Management button; you’ll see the monitor profiles available for your computer.



Microsoft Color Management

Even though Windows doesn’t have a built-in calibrator, you can use third-party software to help you create a profile. For example, the Adobe Gamma application that comes with Photoshop is a useful tool for checking the accuracy of your monitor.