Colour is a science and printers need to master it

Satish Nayak (SN): We had three clients —Janus (now Edelman), Sai Packaging and Color Dots Prepress Studio. Doing this for the first time in India had its own challenges, but the outcome was much more than what the clients had expected.

 

SN: All of them vary when it comes to operations but print and colour reproduction is common to all three. The entire printing and colour reproduction industry is a manufacturing industry that needs to follow and deliver industry standards. In the absence of these standards a printer needs to benchmark his own standards according to ISO regulations for his daily work. To enable this we need process control at each stage. It is a common notion that simply buying a new multi-colour printing press will enhance the production. Even new machine needs to be standardised for processes and the first step begins with GIGO – Garbage In Garbage Out. The next step is to bring in the clarity regarding the requirements from the press and this can only be achieved by asking questions. It is a big challenge for printers in India to achieve this clarity and until that happens there is no real standardisation at all. This process standardisation was different for each of our customers mentioned above.

 

SN: We had to create a process control system throughout the chain of manufacturing beginning with training for the sales and marketing departments and then the pre-press, press and post-press. This was achieved by using a mix of hardware and software and through a team that collected data.

 

SN: The ultimate objective is standardisation in print. G7 or ISO are just the processes based on different methodologies to reach the same objective. Both the processes are established and well accepted across the world. It really does not matter which processes you use.

 

SN: Epson has become a de facto standard in proofing as it features aqueous pigment-based inks and is quite stable once maintained. This saves a lot of time and money to the printer. Yet we try and take shortcuts and keep burying ourselves into more trouble. As I recall, we were using an Epson proofer almost a decade ago with our software solution where we close loop spot (house colours) and Pantone colours and have been providing inkjet proofs for all spot and Pantone colours quite accurately under the Delta E (a metric for understanding how the human eye perceives colour difference) specification of the customer.

 

The action of choosing a Pantone spot colour is in fact specifying what you want the printmaker to do. Unfortunately, many professionals in our industry think the colour is a digital specification rather than an ink formulation, and the bridge book is not so well understood; to the point that it can cause misplaced expectations. What is your view about this?

SN: Two things are important here. Colour is a science that is quite interesting to study. While the colour market is driven by the brand owners and graphic designers, printers should have been ahead in mastering this science. What I have found is that the printing fraternity in India does not want to take even baby steps to understand this science.  A customer can get unreasonable about colour. And he needs to be educated so that he can reach a reasonable conclusion. Who do you think is better suited to teach his customer than the printer himself?

 

Nayak (in white): “Colour is a science that is quite interesting to study”

SN: There is a way out. But it will take up the whole interview to answer that. In short, colour is an appearance science and many things are possible. One needs to understand the tolerance in each manufacturing process.

 

SN: I don’t think this is the case. Flexo is quite a fixed process and one needs to understand how this print process works and what are its limitations and capabilities. Nowadays, in flexo, a lot can be done and some people are already doing this. The core process of understanding the basic technology has to remain strong and cannot be skipped.

 

SN: One needs to adopt an open system which can grow with the upgrade in colour profiles.  Many years ago I had introduced GMG in India as I was fond of it then. But GMG is a closed proprietary system. Personally, I prefer an open-ended International Color Consortium (ICC)-based system as it is getting better and is moving to the next level of connecting all the dots in a single workflow. ICC is the connecting colour space for all applications and process. These days Bodhi support Alwan Color Hub as it is based on open-ended ICC profiles and has proven to be at the top of the competition. Today, the printer needs to keep abreast with the technology available in the market. A good tip would be to try the technology and ask bold questions to each manufacturer or seller to prove the recommendations/results. Printers can bring challenging files and ask the experts to prove their ability.

 

SN: ICC is the base of all colour management exercises in today’s digital workflow. It is a consortium of all the top players in graphic arts industry who have agreed upon a common way to communicate colour. ICC keeps updating the profiles on a regular basis and the ability to connect becomes easier and better.

 

SN: A proprietary colour management solution is a one-way street. In an open ICC-based solution, one has a big advantage to connect easily to the front-end applications and this allows the ICC-aware applications such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Acrobat and other software to characterise a colour space across the input and output devices. Being open-ended also provides the advantage of integration into a workflow that handles and uses many different applications. This integration leads to predictable results that can be visualised on the computer screens before it goes to print. Almost all graphic arts applications today base the colour management on ICC profiles due to its ability to communicate and connect to other devices or software. 

 

Colour management demonstration

SN: As I had mentioned earlier, colour is science and one should begin by training the team. This is already making inroads and is happening at an increasing scale as the print buyers comprising of brand designers and photographers are also getting trained and are aware of it. The printing firms should be willing to spend time, effort and money to empower the team with the knowledge of colour and thus bring in the expected results.

 

SN: ISO is the final goal. What route the printer takes to achieve this goal is up to him. Finally, once a printer understands the complete process, he can adapt to any of his customer’s requests. The entire process is clearly defined. There is no place for ignorance.

 

SN: Understanding the concept and process is the key factor. It depends upon the level of solution a printer requires for jobs that need to be executed. There are multiple levels. A printer can progress in the correct direction once he understands this. 

 

SN: This is a must. The frequency depends on how stringent they need to be in their production and how well these presses have been maintained and their usage. In general, I suggest once in every two months. Then either increase or decrease this frequency.

 

SN: Yes. But only through optimisation of standards and that requires process automation. It is a general standard and a printer needs to look at this clearly. ROI calculation on printing presses is a must. If the printing press complies with proper standards, then the output will be more productive and predictive. 

 

Printers need to understand that a workflow is neither a product nor software that can be bought from a vendor. It is a flow of job in their production houses. Once they understand this, putting together the puzzle becomes easier and fun. A new printing press does not guarantee quality print production. The entire process must be standardised or else printing press will put ink on paper.

 

SN: Ink saving and ink optimisation are byproducts. More important is CMS (colour management systems)/CMP (colour management practices) that are put in place and its settings. 

To understand this, I suggest the printers to take the help of a good consultant who can do this hands-on and help them create this process and make this work seamless in the production environment. Tholasi Prints in Bengaluru who is our customer went through these stages and today, it is doing well.