Showing our colours
Date: 21st Jul 2008
We live in a world full of colour where dirrerent shades, hues and tones have a direct impact on our perception and feelings.
ACCURACY of colour also happens to be a fundamental requirement in the print industry. From the shade of an item of clothing in a catalogue to the corporate colours on a company newsletter, if the colour isn’t reproduced perfectly, customers will be getting an inferior product.
Because we at Kingfisher are all too aware of the importance of getting colour right, we are continually investing in software, machinery and training to get the perfect colour reproduction. Because of our commitment; Simon Collings, our Studio Manager, now has an additional responsibility. As Colour Champion, he’s in charge of colour queries and is responsible for investigating the reasons why there is a problem in the first place.
The first step on the colour management ladder was the investment of Mellow Colour.
Alan Dresch who is the founder and owner of Mellow Colour, is a pre-press man by trade who now sits on the board for ISO colour management. It was Alan who first introduced us to colour management, and gave us the skills and knowledge to create our own colour management systems. He introduced us to new colour methods like LAB values and the use of Fogra standards for proofing.
ISO 12647 is the specification upon which most serious printing specifications are based. Target gradation, ink colour, trapping, grey balance and dot gain numbers in the specifi cation are based on hundreds of high quality print samples gathered and analysed from around the globe by the ISO TC 130 Committee.
Mellow Colour software analyses the colour appearance of print and tune systems so that all of the above can be achieved. PrintSpecTM colour quality assurance software was developed by Mellow Colour, for there own colour consultancy projects and now allows us to take care of our colour quality control our self. PrintSpecTM is the perfect tool for colour professionals with an interest in consistent high quality colour reproduction. A spectrophotometer is used to quickly capture colour data from the print sample, and a comprehensive colour report is generated displaying just about everything you need to know about colour appearance and how the colour measurements compare with the ISO 12647 Specification.
Simon admits there are some serious industry challenges, which is why, in addition to Simon’s add-on appointment, Kingfi sher has invested over £50,000 in a Heidelberg Image Control, a state-of-the-art machine that provides a colour measuring system, for monitoring colour consistency on the press. It measure’s the whole print image spectrophotometrically, which means in layman’s terms, it scans 160000 points on a B1 (700mm x 1000mm)sheet in less than 30 seconds.
Put simply, the original Sherpa provided uses both coated and uncoated standards, Fogra 39 coated and Fogra 29 uncoated, for the footprint that the end printing job is measured against. The two standards for proofing are designed to simulate each type of stock. The uncoated proof simulates an uncoated finish, producing a flat looking Sherpa to which the print is matched. Coated Sherpa’s, which most customers will be familiar with, are of a high gloss finish.
During the printing process, a sheet is scanned - perhaps every 1000 or so - depending on the print run. Image Control assesses any deviations and calibrates the press so that the right amount of colour is applied.
Simon explains the benefi ts of the new investment:
‘With so many variables – moisture in the air, for instance, image control is a consistency issue and the machine helps maintain consistency. The printers admit that the machine makes life easier and helps to eliminate potential human error.’
The Heidelberg machine works on a fairly new colour system cielab, originally embraced by the textile industry, but now gradually finding its way into other industries.
Lab Colour is a huge colour space that theoretically describes all the colours that the human eye can see, detailing depths and luminescence that RGB and CMYK can not compete with.
Aiming for perceptual uniformity, its L component closely matches human perception of lightness. By modifying output curves in the a and b components, or adjusting the lightness contrast using the L component, it can be used to make accurate colour balance corrections.The system ensures that whether it’s the colour of a T shirt or a car, regardless of where it’s printed, colours will be exactly the same.
Kingfisher Print has embraced all this evolving technology and is well on the way to achieving perfection, so much so that a challenge has been set for all those in the printing department.
“The target for the perfect colour is 75% and the best achieved so far is 96%. Any printer that gets all green lights, signifying 100%, gets £50,”Simon explains.
“We’ve come a long way but in order to give customers the perfect product, we need constantly ensure that what we are printing is exactly the same as the original artwork.”
If you want to know more about Image Control or Lab Colour, contact Simon on studio@kingfisherprint.co.uk
