Calibration for CMYK

[Aubrey]

Hey Damien, my husband wants to know if I can calibrate his work PC with my Spider to ensure his website designs and magazine entries are the correct colors. I've never done this. Do you have a tut? I do have some of his past magazine entries that I could use to compare with what's on the screen. 

[Damien Symonds]

No, it doesn't work like that.

Firstly, yes you can calibrate his work PC with your Spyder, as long as the Datacolor rules allow you to do so.  And yes, of course anyone who is working in graphic design should be calibrated.

And yes, calibration will ensure that his website stuff will be correct.

But calibration alone won't guarantee his magazines print correctly.  For that, he needs to ensure that he is working carefully with the correct CMYK profiles.

There is some partially relevant reading here and here.  But to give more specific advice, I'll need to hear more about his CMYK workflow.

[Aubrey]

Ya, he and his employees know how to get the color profiles for the magazine so I'll let them worry about that. But do I calibrate their comps just as I did mine, following your instructions? Or do I need to select different options BECAUSE they will be working in CMYK and not in SRGB. sorry if it's a stupid question. Hope it makes sense. Just don't wanna mess up the Hubby's business.

[Damien Symonds]

No, no different settings at all.

In fact, I'd even strongly recommend taking in your pro lab prints, for verification.