Have you ever been in a situation where yellow and orange colors appear as they should on screen but fade on paper? Or perhaps these colors appear dark and vibrant when they are fresh out of the printer, but fade after the ink has dried. If you’ve experienced any of these scenarios, you are not alone. Here’s the deal — accurate printing comes down to having proper device calibration to ensure consistency, well-formulated ink for vibrancy and compatible substrates that allow the ink to display correctly on paper. A hiccup in any of these elements, no matter how tiny, can alter the print quality, resulting in faded or low-resolution prints.
While any colors can fade over time, yellows and oranges tend to be especially finicky. There is a scientific basis behind why this happens. Yellow and orange inks often contain pigments or dyes that are inherently less lightfast, so they’re more prone to fading when exposed to light or ozone.
Here, we dive into the reasons yellows and oranges are more susceptible to fading in printing. Additionally, we’ll explore some steps you can take to prevent it from happening.
There are several places you can look in your pressroom to identify the cause of faded-looking colors. Let’s look at some common culprits you should know about.
In printing, color is produced by mixing four process colors (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) using subtractive mixing. Yellows are printed directly from the yellow ink/toner — orange shades require accurate mixing of yellow and magenta.
Colors are mixed by depositing tiny dots of process colors onto the paper, which blend visually. If the cartridge is faulty, you can expect errors to occur in the subtractive color mixing process. The result? Faded or incorrect shades of yellow and orange.
Let’s break down some common cartridge-related issues that can cause these colors to fade:
Printer inks expire and, in some cases, become damaged. This can happen for several reasons, including exposure to air and contamination in the pressroom. When this happens, one of the first things you’ll likely notice is faded or dull outputs of colors, including yellows and oranges. You might also notice that your prints are inconsistent, with some looking vibrant and others looking faded.
Proper ink or toner levels are necessary for consistent printing. However, when the ink or toner levels in the cartridge are low, the result may be low vibrancy. To confirm that this is the cause of yellows and oranges coming out faded, you can check your printer properties or cartridge settings on your PC.
Another reason your printer may be producing faded-looking yellows and oranges in print is the density setting of your ink and toner. Some printers allow adjustment of output density, typically found in the printer driver settings.
Improper humidity can affect ink drying (for inkjet/offset) or toner fusing (for laser/toner), resulting in dull, smeared or uneven color reproduction.
The quality of your paper may also affect the way colors appear. Low-quality paper may result in poor ink adhesion or absorption, leading to less vibrant or uneven colors, including yellows and oranges.
If you’re experiencing yellows and oranges fading in print, there are a few steps you can take to ensure they appear as vibrant as they should. Some of these steps include:
Printing is a delicate craft that requires attention to every detail to produce good-looking prints. This process also involves making sure you have the correct solutions to make colors, including yellows and oranges, appear vibrant and visually appealing.
Fujifilm offers a wide range of high-quality printing solutions designed to enable you to make more with design and achieve long-lasting vibrancy in print. Explore our range of pressroom products today or contact us if you have any questions.