Almost every printed job surprises someone with colour. The screen glows, the paper does not, and the two will never match exactly.

Closing the gap starts with mode. Design in the colour space you will print in, not in vivid rgb that no press can hit, and the shock at the proof stage mostly disappears.

Stock matters just as much. The same file prints warmer on uncoated paper and cooler on coated, so we pick the stock before we finish the colour, not after.

See a wet proof on the real paper. It looks fussy to ask for one. It saves the whole run.