businesses create the kind of communities
that we all want to live, work, and
raise families in.
It’s time we open up our doors a
little bit and showcase the great work
that is done inside our facilities. I
hope you’ll join Yaron in circling the
fi rst Friday in October on your calendar
for Sign Manufacturing Day. Th is
year, it is October 6.
ISA has created a number of resources
and tips designed to help you make
Continued from page 23
being introduced all the time, which
makes it easier to reproduce Pantone
and brand colors, but harder to color
manage.
“Th e more inks you add, the more
diffi cult color management gets,” said
Fret. “Th ere are two major problems with
most color management systems, since
they are based on process CMYK. When
additional inks are added, the profi les
will use the same amount of data available
to all the inks, signifi cantly reducing
the accuracy inside the profi le.”
Indigo-go
Th en there is “cross-process” color
management — keeping color consistent
across off set and digital, or even diff erent
digital, printing technologies.
“Th e best way to do this, rather than
relying on each of the RIPs that drive
each of the printers and their own color
management systems, is to use one capable,
centralized system that controls both
the analog and all of the digital presses,”
said Fret. “Th e less standardization that
exists between and among diff erent
print devices, the more likely things can
go wrong — and they oft en do.”
Using a centralized color management
system doesn’t necessarily mean
that you’re using the same soft ware
to manage, say, an off set press and a
wide-format printer, but rather, said Fret,
“the same color engine, possibly inside
diff erent soft ware, that has the tools and
specifi c controls for the printing process
it addresses. Th is makes sure the color is
managed to the same target regardless
the most of this day, including videos
and fl yers that you can share with
attendees. You can see some of the
resources at www.signs.org/careers.
Others will be provided when you sign
up to participate.
One thing we can all learn from
Lauretano is to invite local, state, and
federal political leaders. Th at will not
only raise the profi le of the event with
students, but also may gather some
press coverage. Local media coverage is
of the printing technology used so that
the visual match between these is guaranteed,
or is at least much closer.”
Th en there is the proliferation of specialty
inks, such as metallics, to which
a lot of the existing solutions have
yet to catch up. “Color-Logic focuses
on metallics,” said Geeves, “and even
though there are currently instruments
designed to measure metallics,
there are no soft ware programs that
can utilize those measurements. For
working with metallics, we promote
calibration and process control of the
CMYK ink sets.”
How green is my galley?
Xrite’s Kelbley brings up another
elephant in the room: proofi ng,
specifi cally hard (print-based) vs. soft
(monitor-based) proofi ng. “If someone
is doing soft proofi ng, they’ll need
a solution that supports monitor
calibration,” he said. “If they’re doing
hard proofi ng, they should consider a
viewing booth that supports several
light sources, to accurately simulate
the customers’ fi nal possible viewing
environments.”
In today’s environment, soft proofi ng
has advantages over hard, especially for
wide-format applications.
“I suggest large-format companies look
at instruments and soft ware that will
calibrate a monitor for soft -proofi ng applications,”
said Geeves. “Digital printing
devices today are production machines,
and I don’t know why so many companies
use them for making proofs when
another way of hanging out the proverbial
“now hiring” sign.
Most importantly, participating
“doesn’t interfere with getting work
done in our shop or in the offi ce on that
day,” Yaron said.
If you’d like to learn more about Sign
Manufacturing Day, including how to
participate, email workforce@signs.
org. Th en, get out that red ink pen and
circle October 6. It is a day that can pay
dividends for years to come.
color management provides the ability
to use soft proofs on your monitor for
so much of the output. Th ink about the
loss in productivity by producing hard
proofs over the course of a month.”
Yellow pages
Th ere is no shortage of solutions for
color management, be it for small- or
wide-format. When shopping for a
system or soft ware, looking for ease of
use should be paramount, as well as
ensuring that it is compatible with what
you are seeking to print.
“I would ask what kind of materials
are being used to ensure that the solution
chosen is compatible,” said Kelbley.
“If a user is planning on using papers
with optical brighteners, for example,
you would want to make sure that the
solution chosen can measure and compensate
for these.”
“For profi ling soft ware, ease-of-use
is a huge question to not only ask, but
to get a demo of before purchasing,”
said Geeves.
“Questions might include, ‘Does your
solution have the ability to hit specifi c
corporate colors?’ ‘What kind of integrated
tools are available to adjust my color
gamut?’ and ‘Is it easy?’”
“A color management system should
allow you to get the best possible
results in the shortest time,” said Fret.
“One of the most important things
that a color management system
should off er is a way to do all these
things easily, so you do not require a
color expert to use it.”
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