Hello -

I made my first Graphi order, and I have to say, I have joined the anti-Graphi ranks after receiving what could have been an amazing product from them. At least 3 spreads have HORRIBLE banding. There is one spread that has some faint banding, and that is bad but I could have lived with that, but the second spread of the book is really really bad. I am so incredibly disappointed and frustrated. Do you guys return these books with even just one spread with banding?? I don't think that I should have to settle for even one spread that is not done right.

SO, what i need to know from those of you who eotherr 1. use Graphi all the time, or 2. have had to deal with them to redo a book, is WHO should I contact. Please give me a name of a person that is reliable and easy to deal with. Don't tell me to call Italy. I have talked to so many different people there.

Also what is the process?? I am running low on time here and need the book redone and rushed to my bride. Please please reply!!

Unfortunately I can't answer the who to contact question as you're in an entirely other country. You probably *DO* have to deal directly with Italy.

I have a question though - when you got the banding - what book size did you make and what are the specs on the images you sent to Graphi? Did you design a 12x12" 300 DPI and send it for a 9.5x9.5" book? Or ... what? I'm curious about something there.

I placed two separate album orders with Graphi, both had to be redone. Glaring flaws. I will never use them again.

For both my remakes, the fastest process for me was to log in to my Trade Area and send the request to them from the specific album order page. There should be an email link in there: yourorder @ graphistudio.com


Flaws are unacceptable.

I designed an 8x8 book 300dpi exactly to a tee of the specs they wanted. this is so frustrating. i will never use them again. it doesn't help that i am in germany, they are in italy and my bride is in Texas with a wedding in Mexico a month from tomorrow. nice, huh. i tried to get them to just mail me the book here in germany, but no, they woudl have charged me in euros and added a whopping 20% vat tax to it. so it went to US then forwarded to me, and now we have to start all over.

Such a bummer......... Yes I would return it.

Try contacting Lanae Nelson x473

866-472-7445

Either she can help you or she'll be able to direct you to someone who can.

actually....

I just pulled up the file of the spread with the worst banding... and as I looked REALLY close on my computer, in CS3, I can faintly faintly see the banding in the original file (because I know what I am looking for I guess).... still the spread graphi sent is awful, but is the original problem mine? The banding is only on the pages with gradients..... please take a look at my file and tell me what you think. Did I do something wrong in the original file??

Here are the two bad ones.... both with gradients.

<img src="http://xad.xanga.com/85bd720425730122953512/b88798340.jpg" alt="page03-04" style="width:800px" />

<img src="http://x1a.xanga.com/340d670560532122953356/b88798204.jpg" alt="page19-20" style="width:800px" />

I see what you mean. Are you saying that the banding is worse on Graphi's print?

hi chelsea, I am very sorry to ear that, but graphistudio can be contacted at this address and numbers
GRAPHISTUDIO SPA
Via M.te Raut, 1
33090 ARBA (PN) Italy,
N° VERDE: 800 342643
Tel: (+39) 0427 939611
Fax: (+39) 0427 939612
E-mail: yourorder@graphistudio.com

Regarding those 2 pages I can see the banding on my monitor. "" mind my monitor is calibrated with huey monitor calibration, but without calibration I can faintly see it""

OH yes! I will post a pic soon.... my hubby thinks it looks FINE (great... awesome... cool...) so maybe I am being way over critical???

ok so here are some quick snaps of the actual album.... sorry about the low light situation... just how it is in this room.

<img src="http://x38.xanga.com/bd1d710426733122960817/m88804203.jpg" alt="IMG_3545" style="width:580px" />

<img src="http://x11.xanga.com/583d970425735122960797/m88804193.jpg" alt="IMG_3541" style="width:580px" />

<img src="http://x4c.xanga.com/c9fd611748432122960784/m88804183.jpg" alt="IMG_3540" style="width:580px" />



So anybody know what went wrong???

anyone? MATT? I am new to photoshop so i know that there is a possibility that I could have done something wrong when doing the color gradients.... but still..... the banding is pretty crappy, no? I seriously don't know what to do though. There is not enough time to have another book made, shipped to the states, forwarded to me in Germany, and then shipped back to TX for a wedding in Mexico on June 16. Is there?

Chelsea, I've spent the last two days in conversation with Graphistudio regarding an order they screwed up for me. I've used them for 7 books & 5 of them have had issues. I've sent back four, the fifth I gave to my bride yesterday and thankfully she hasn't noticed the big white blotch on the front cover!

Whether or not you've done something wrong, the fact is that they don't pick up on the problems while they're printing. To me your banding is obviously wrong & I'm only looking at it in a photograph, I can only imagine what it looks like for real. Yes, I know Graphi have many clients and lots of books being printed at once but someone should be quality controlling the books before they leave the factory.

I'm sorry I didn't see your post yesterday Chelsea but I'm going to PM you the email address of the lady at Graphi that I contact each time I have a problem. I'm pretty down on Graphi at the moment but at the same time they have been great about changing whatever is wrong. My most recent problem has gone back to Graphi, I received it yesterday, it was wrong again & now they're doing a complete reprint which I need to have back within 10 days! Explain to her you're on a tight schedule and email her the shots you've posted here and see what she has to say. Let us know what happens.

Thanks!

I did email them, and sent photos of the banding....no reply yet. I am still undecided as to whether or not I can have it reprinted. My client is REALLY wanting her book and I still have to send it to the US.... the problem is that they won't ship the book to me here in germany, so the time it takes for them to send it to by business address in the US (where all of my mail is sent and forwarded), and then forwarded to me here in Berlin and sent back again... you get the point. That is weeks down the drain in just transportation. I asked them to change my contact details to my german address, but it would have been a HUGE issue involving euros and bank accounts (my cc is to my stateside address) and on and on and on. CRAP. If i could just get them to send me the book HERE in Berlin, that would take care of everything.

On my monitor I can see the banding as they are printed, as mentioned on my other post is your monitor calibrated?
this solves a lot of problems before printing.

Regards
Alfredo

Hope matt antonino answer, I am very interested to know what he thinks.

Adam mentioned one possibility for this issue in this post. If that's the case, then a repring probably won't be right either. Solid pastel graduations spanning a large area will have banding due to the limitations of postscript according to his technical explanation.

Good luck.

I see the same level of banding in your digital file as in the images of the book you posted. If you are not calibrating your monitor that would explain any differences between the banding you see on your monitor and the banding on the printed book.

As far as the post stating that Graphic should have caught the issue. I'm not sure that they did not just see it as a design element as apposed to a design flaw. I got to stand up for them, I'm sorry. On the other hand my new rep. has been very kind to me and I am sure that if you call your rep. and express your unhappiness he or she will have the order reprinted. If that means sending new files I'm am sure they will except that if you explain you are new to them.

I will try to be really nice, but it's going to be hard. I have had three returns for the same album from Graphi Studios just recently. First, a scratched cover. Returned. Second, they sent the book with the incorrect paper selection. The third was the wrong color of binding (blue instead of black). Neadless to say, the bride is upset, Graphi is making me look bad, and who knows what the bride is saying about me to her friends (even though it wasn't my fault). The worst thing of the matter is that I was nice the first two times they screwed up and then told them the third time that they need to compensate me for the hassle, (along with a note about telling other photographers of my experience) they e-mailed me back inferring that I was being unprofessional and that they pride themselves with dealing only with professional photographers. I was only hoping for an apology and maybe some compensation for the trouble and making me look bad in front of the client. Oh, and they always pass me off to Italy with a "that's not our department" attitude. Then Italy takes their time getting back with me, eventually. Neadless to say, I'm in the market for a new album company. Unfortunately, I have already shown my brides the Graphi albums as my product. Is there something comparable, especially in the way of the metalic covers? PLEASE HELP! I have to exchange all my samples as soon as possible with a reliable album company that doesn't get defensive when I encounter a problem.