Why Print Colors Affect Pricing
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Why Print Colors Affect Pricing
RVA Threads Guide to Smart Design
It’s Not Just Ink on a Shirt
It is easy to get carried away when designing a shirt, why not use every color in the brand palette? However, when you receive a quote back from your screen printer, you’ll likely notice a significant price gap between a one-color and a five-color print. Unlike digital printing, screen printing is a physical, mechanical process. We aren't just "hitting print" on a computer; we are digitally recreating/setting-up your artwork to be manually screen printed one color at a time.
The "One Color, One Screen" Rule
The most important thing to understand is that every single color in your design requires its own physical mesh screen. We have to digitally separate your artwork into individual color channels and "burn" each color separation into its own screen using light-sensitive emulsion. If you have a two-color logo, we’re preparing two screens. If you have six colors, that’s six separate setups before we even pull a squeegee.
The Underbase: The Hidden Extra Step
If we are printing on navy, black, or any dark garment, there is an "invisible" color you have to account for: the white underbase. Because t-shirt ink is not completely opaque, printing bright colors directly onto dark fabric makes them look muddy. We print a solid layer of white ink first to act as a primer, allowing the ink colors to "pop." This means a two-color design on a dark shirt is almost always a three-screen job.
Precision at the Press
Once the screens are made, they must be "registered" on the press. This is the skilled labor of aligning every screen so they hit the exact same spot on the garment. If one screen shifts by a millimeter, you’ll see white lines peeking out from the edges or colors overlapping where they shouldn't. The more colors you add, the longer the setup takes and the more room there is for variance. You aren’t just paying for more ink; you’re paying for the time and expertise required to keep those colors perfectly locked in place.
The Power of Simplicity
The good news is that you can often reduce your color count to save money without sacrificing brand recognition. A crisp white print on a navy shirt can be just as striking, if not more so, than a multi-color design, and it’s significantly more cost-effective. Some of the most iconic logos in the world rely on a single, bold color. This approach creates a cleaner, more modern look that translates perfectly from the shop floor to the street.