Colour crazy
Whether it’s maintaining brand identity or reproducing lifelike imagery, colour management is a core part of the printing process. Poor colour management can make printed products look a little odd and can reflect badly on the printing company responsible. Luckily, there are many products on the market that have been specifically designed for this purpose. In this feature, Print Monthly takes a look at some of the companies offering colour management solutions, and the importance of using these to their advantage.
Hungry for change
One example of an area where colour management is crucial is in packaging. Imagine a shelf full of tins of baked beans. You don’t have to read the label to know a tin is Heinz due to its recognisable turquoise-blue branding. The same can be said for the purple packets of Monster Munch or bottles sporting ‘Coca-Cola red’ labels. Without the correct colour for a brand, consumers could be confused and assume certain products aren’t what they think. Colour ensures uniformity and enables products to be recognised at a glance without the need for detailed labelling.
Colour needs to be accurate and consistent when used for branding purposes
One company that offers a solution for packaging colour control is ICScolor. The company recently helped brand solutions company Brandkey to incorporate its Remote Director digital colour proofing systems as part of its cloud-based workflow. In using Remote Director, brand owners working with Brandkey are able to control cost, minimise production time, and facilitate multi-stakeholder visibility on packaging projects.
Paul Biernat, chief operating officer of Brandkey, says: “Traditional pre-media companies are bricks-and-mortar with graphic artists and platemakers producing proofs and plates, and customer service representatives shipping them to different locations. We have built a cloud-based graphics and vendor compliance company, with project managers and production people who can be anywhere in the world.
“Adopting Remote Director allows us to have a solid monitor or virtual proofing solution that is environmentally friendly and in tune with our company mission. In every scenario, we see that brand owners are hungry for change and they’re trying to change internally.”
Biernat adds: “My goal was to build a production and project management solution that was as seamless as possible. While Remote Director has always had excellent tools and features, knowing what we needed in the next few years – and seeing our shared philosophy – made the adoption a natural fit. The past four years have proved that decision was precious and timely.”
Remote Director has also been implemented in colleges across North America in the launch of ICScolor’s educational partnership programme and college graphic communications programmes. The universities making use of the solution are Toronto Metropolitan University, California Polytechnic State University, and Rochester Institute of Technology. The universities will use the solution to teach their print, graphics, branding, and media students.
Bruce Leigh Myers PHD, associate professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, describes the contract proofing cycle as a critical component for workflows for demanding brand owners, especially for advertising, publishing, and packaging printing. He says: “Using Remote Director, our students work in real-world, colour-critical scenarios as they prepare to become the next generation of leaders in this industry.
“The remarkable technology inherent in Remote Director touches many of our core competencies including colour management, workflow, approval cycles, process control, production efficiency, and sustainability. The spot-on colour fidelity and tools offered in the system are particularly impressive.”
Save time
Another company that offers colour management solutions is GMG Color, a software developer which provides high-quality colour management software solutions. Included in its product portfolio is a contract proofing solution which offers an accurate simulation of what the printed product will be, and repeatable proofs wherever the GMG system is used.
GMG Color also offers a packaging mock-up solution which profiles packaging substrates for colour-accurate proofs direct-to-production substrate, and an automated colour conversion tool, GMG ColorServer, which enables users to colour match across multiple presses, ink sets, and substrates. This also provides ink savings and click cost savings.
Another product is the GMG ColorPlugin for Photoshop which saves time in pre-press by simplifying the adjustment and conversion of colours in image files with a colour-accurate preview of results.
When quizzed on why colour management software is so important for print, Paul Barnes, operations director of GMG Color says accuracy is key, irrespective of the print process, the different inks used, or whether the print was done onto a packaging label or a vinyl graphic.
Paul Barnes, operations director of GMG Color says accuracy is key in colour management
“Not only does this mean your customers’ colours are repeatable across different projects and substrates, it also gives you the benefit of balancing workload more efficiently across your printers,” Barnes says, adding: “Software also automates the entire process – from proofing to profiling and conversion – for a right-first-time approach. Proofs can be verified with the GMG tick using an in-built spectrophotometer for confirmation that they’ve achieved the colour target.
“Intelligent profiling tools make profile iterations redundant, so you no longer need to tweak and reprint artwork until the colours are a close visual match. They save a significant amount of time and materials, and enable less experienced staff to control colour.”
Barnes continues: “Hot-folder-based colour conversion tools mean that once you’ve created your profile, you simply need to drag the file into the relevant folder and it automatically and accurately converts it.”
In addition to this, Barnes mentions the fact that artwork can also be produced to any industry or in-house colour standard with a Delta E tolerance provided to show how close they are to the desired result. The software will then do the maths and calculate what changes are needed to achieve a better colorimetric match.
So, we’ve discussed why this software is important, but how can adding colour management software add value to a print business? According to Barnes, a process-driven, colour-managed workflow can pay for itself in months.
More specifically he says return on investment for a GMG system is usually 12 months as a result of reduced man hours, less wastage and rejected print, and significant savings on ink, substrates, and print heads.
Barnes says: “Colour conversion tools have the added benefit of providing ink optimisation by managing the colour channels to provide an ink saving. With GMG’s superior MX conversions, you’re assured that this calculation also provides the optimum colour result, and it stabilises the print run and reduces print head wear. Plus, GMG benefits those who incur click-based charges; using GMG’s enhanced CMYK-mode can reduce click costs while maintaining colour accuracy.
“Of course, ultimately colours need to be accurate to satisfy discerning customers. Colour management software brings consistency and repeatability for the assurance that brand colours will be reproduced correctly. Proofing software allows you to show customers upfront how their colours will print, to keep them happy but also avoid time consuming approval loops and costly reprints.”
Bringing on-board colour management software will enable you to attract more of these clients who are selective about the appearance of their brand colours”
Barnes adds: “Bringing on-board colour management software will enable you to attract more of these clients who are selective about the appearance of their brand colours.”
A central tool
One company that relies on GMG’s ColorCard solution is the paper and board business unit of Siegwerk. The printing ink manufacturer has 180 years of experience in the industry and recently decided to move from analogue to digitally-created ink drawdowns using this solution.
Siegwerk recently decided to move from analogue to digitally-created ink drawdowns using GMG’s ColorCard solution
According to Siegwerk, at its factory in Büdingen, Germany, precision counts above anything else. This is due to the company producing recipes for brand and spot colours that must be in line with the exact specifications that customers have asked for. The company describes “a trained eye” as being just as much part of the basic equipment as digital measurement technology. At Siegwerk, colour cards developed by its ink specialists accompany the job on press and are what the clients and printers agree as the requirement.
Jens Zehnder, print engineer and developer at GMG says he finds it hard to believe that this medium was still being produced manually until recently. “The colour card is a central tool for colour communication, especially for brands in packaging printing. The colour card is the common reference that everyone involved in the process has approved. For example, if you want to create cards for ten contacts, our solution can do it in just a few minutes – and they all look identical. This level of accuracy used to be virtually impossible to achieve and the manual process was extremely time consuming.”
As well as reducing time and improving consistency, the implementation of the GMG ColorCard to Siegwerk’s operations is part of a global sustainability strategy at Siegwerk to reduce environmental pollution and increase resource efficiency.
Another company that is benefiting from GMG Color’s solutions is large-format print business VGL. The company needed a more mature and streamlined approach to colour across its retail and transport work.
Needing to be able to be confident that its colours will be reproduced accurately and consistently every time, VGL opted for GMG ColorServer Digital for its large-format digital devices and its small-format SRA3-size Indigo.
Located across three sites in Reading, UK, VGL produces digital and screen printing for retail, transport, outdoor media, and display. The GMG software has been implemented at its two digital printing sites at Elgar Road and Smallmead with colour control a key criterion.
VGL operates a number of roll-to-roll machines producing transport vinyl as well as other applications printed on fabrics using dye-sublimation, and flatbeds printing onto rigid boards. One particular area VGL needed added colour control was when reprinting damaged fleet graphics.
Daniel Field, managing director of VGL, says: “Consistency over time of brand reproduction is essential for us across all the sectors we deal in. When you’re recreating retail brands, you’re a custodian of those brand colours, and the ability to produce them accurately time and time again is paramount. With commercial fleet, you have multiple vehicles that all need to be uniform in colour.”
Daniel Field, managing director of VGL refers to GMG as “a brand respected for decades in colour”
The company says it previously found it more difficult and time consuming to achieve the same colours as the original print job. GMG ColorServer enables VGL to speed up the process, but also makes the results more consistent, giving the company more assurance in its work. A built-in and accurate calibration feature from GMG SmartProfiler enables VGL to recalibrate to a reference condition for stable print behaviour and to compensate colour drifts for variations.
VGL says it found it difficult and time consuming to achieve the same colours as the original print job when printing fleet graphics
VGL also produces retail point-of-sale print with this production covering various processes, presses, and materials including cards, plastics, and recycled boards. Reflecting on the need to automate the way the company managed colour in this area, Rupert Dadd, technical director of VGL, adds: “The old way of doing it before GMG was to run test prints for presses you’re printing similar materials on and make manual adjustments for each of those machines to get them all aligned.
O Factoid: Hue and saturation both need to be considered in colour management techniques because they can create variations O
“GMG does all that work beforehand, so it doesn’t need to be done on every single job. The GMG system is easier to use with fewer steps to create a profile. Traditionally, you’d be losing a machine for significant periods, whereas with GMG, it’s undertaken at speed.”
With all this in mind, it’s clear to see the importance of getting colour right in the printing process so as to avoid frustration from customers and wastage within production. The good news is there are many high-quality solutions available on the market for any print businesses’ requirement, from branding on packaging to creating colour cards.
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