Predicting the unpredictable in a Pantone world Garett Long Commercial Technologist Southern Graphic Systems
Garett Long, Commercial Technologist Company-wide Color Management Resource Profiling Troubleshooting Special Solutions Research & development in color science Workflow solutions New technology
A Tour of Spot Color Packaging What makes this attractive (vs. Process) Popular Color Systems Execution Challenges Brand Equity Assurance Evolution
The Duality of Spot-Color Packaging It s about maximizing brand equity with high-impact graphics. It s also about optimizing color and graphics in ways that promote consistency while minimizing the impact of printing technical limitations
The landscape of Spot Color packaging today... EXAMPLES
The Shifting Complexity of Spot Color Graphics 1988 Today
Complex Graphics on Challenging Substrates
Complex Graphics on Challenging Substrates
Complex Graphics on Challenging Substrates
Complex Graphics on Challenging Substrates
Complex Graphics on Challenging Substrates
Complex Graphics on Challenging Substrates
Complex Graphics on Challenging Substrates
Complex Graphics on Challenging Substrates
High-Impact Line Work
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Extreme Complexity
They re not really standards as much as attempts to organize... SYSTEMS & LIBRARIES
Popular Color Systems Pantone Matching System Plus set has 1795 colors on coated & uncoated papers TOYO Color Finder 1050 colors arranged using the Munsell scale, a chromaticity scale arranged by approximately equal percived change in hue. DIC Color Guide 2230 colors, origin 1968, preferred in Japan ANPA Color American Newspaper Publishers Association, 300 colors HKS A joint venture of three German colour manufacturers Hostmann- Steinberg Druckfarben, Kast + Ehinger Druckfarben, and H. Schmincke & Co. 120 different colors with 3250 tints on coated and uncoated papers, based on the Euroscale color space. GCMI Flexo Color Guide Popular alternative for Corrugated. Origin 1949 by the Glass Container Manufacturers Institute (now the Glass Packaging Institute).
What are they really? Overall, they are just systems of logical organization. Some are application-specific The colors themselves are combinations of a few basic pigment colors. Some of the Pantone bases are variations on the same basic pigment. Some have no practical equivalent for certain applications
b* Pantone a*b* Boundaries 120 100 80 60 40 20 0-100 -80-60 -40-20 0 20 40 60 80 100-20 -40-60 -80-100 a*
Custom Brand Libraries Are subject to the same constraints as Pantone: Made up of a few base pigments Organization is difficult: Arranging them in a way that s logical to a CPC eventually may lead to redundancy from the printer / ink maker perspective. Often, there s a near-perfect Pantone equivalent.
Separating, proofing and controlling Spot Colors... CHALLENGES
Proofing Spot Colors Usually we re provided a solid (often a Pantone callout) The paper is non-specific Intervening tints are application dependent. There isn t (yet) a comprehensive standard for spot color tint behavior, especially when we have to cross-deploy between printing process Paper 0 E 30% 6.3 E Solid 0 E G O
Same Color, Different Printing 10 Process 0-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60-10 30% Tint 6.3 E -20-30 Gravure Offset 30% -40-50 -60-70
The Legend of Dot Proofing Halftone Proof Gravure Printing Both have matching solids and dot area, but Gravure requires more coverage for a given dot area, lending greater saturation and less tonal detail. Dot structure is perhaps geographically similar.
Combining Spot Colors Characterized ( profiled ) proofing is NOT predictive It s just a brute-force lookup table approach. It s also impractical for spot color purposes. The math used by inkjet proofing systems to predict spot color combinations is a serious compromise L*a*b* math is weak for predictions. The alternative of combining device components has its own problems It s not specific to any application The combination you re looking for may be out-ofgamut, even though the individual components are ingamut In the end, this is a VERY complex problem.
The tale of two proofing systems This was an informal study comparing several thousand combinations of 6 colors It had no real chance of success because we had little direct control of what the proofing devices did with our information. Mean & Max E by channel count Channels n Statistic Proofer "A" Proofer "B" 2 312 Mean 2.75 3.89 Max 12.8 11.4 3 184 Mean 3.39 4.23 Max 16.5 19.5 4 101 Mean 4.15 5.30 Max 14.4 20.0 5 73 Mean 2.67 3.96 Max 10.2 19.1 6 595 Mean 6.12 8.26 Max 12.2 19.3
Standardize what you can, control the rest... BRAND COLOR MANAGEMENT & PROCESS CONTROL
Brand Equity Assurance? It s a blanket term for the whole Brand Color Management ecosystem. Brand equity is the value (positive and negative) a brand adds to an organization's products and services The idea is to bring everyone as close as possible to central ink standards Emphasis on visual match to a physical standard Verified by measurement Corroborated by comparison to similar submissions While considering continuity across package types and printing processes
Scoring Comments Qualitative Evaluation Quantitative Analysis Not just E Usually we re expected to score print quality on a combination of qualitative and quantitative metrics. Sometimes qualitative metrics weigh more than quantitative Print Quality Evaluation Brand Color Management Southern Graph Evaluation ID Customer Business Unit Brand Variety IPMS UPC Job Name 7303-1311100841 CP Flexible Converting DPR to DFM Comparison Printer, Location Print Process Orientation Substrate Production Date Evaluation Date Lot / Roll Number Evaluated By CP Flexible Convertin Flexo Reverse Print Shrink Film 2011-07-19 14:40:41 0 Garett Long Ink Name Separation Type Cyan Process Magenta Process Distance 0.0000" 0.0000" In Tolerance? Yes Yes Yellow Process Black Process Red Process Green Process Registration 0.0000" 0.0000" 0.0000" 0.0000" Yes Yes Yes Yes E Blue Process 0.0000" Yes Solid 1.62 0.91 1.34 6.57 1.34 1.49 6.44 Midtone 1.36 1.44 1.79 1.72 0.38 0.78 8.24 Dot Area Shadow -0.49 +0.87 +1.06 +1.26 +1.31 +1.29-0.82 Midtone -1.77 +1.13-4.16 +4.06-1.80-2.50-6.42 Quartertone -0.01-2.26-9.60-0.79-0.77-6.76-11.67 Min Dot -7.42-4.70-11.23-6.29-3.01-13.97-14.19 Solid Ink Density Difference -0.097-0.055 +0.033-0.188 +0.037 +0.006-0.186 Appearance Acceptable? Density: Yes Color Match: Yes Tints / Halftones: Yes Regist Print Defects Mottle: Hickeys: Ink Build-Up: Picking: Pinholes: Wrinkling: Mechanical Defects Fill-in: Moire / Angle: Chatter / Gear Marks: Streaks / Stri Impression: Plate Bounce: Color Variation: Quantitative Qualitative Registration E Dot Area 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 Appearance 3.8500 Print Defects 0.8250 Mechanical 0.8250 Final Score 5.5000 This is a comparison between shrink te DFM samples
Example Process Development Production Key Quality Metrics Post Production Baseline Study Documentation Color Standard Development Press Characterization Production Color Management Drawdown Approval Contract Proofing On-the-fly COCs Non- Conformance Reporting Root-Cause Analysis & Corrective Action Issue Resolution Post-Mortem Print Quality Evaluation Score Cards and Periodic Reports Audits We custom tailor a program for each customer
PQE In Practice Print Quality Managers have a tough job: Often they must arbitrate differences between their measurements and measurements submitted by a printer. That s why emphasis is on VISUAL with supporting measurement. That also makes documentation of measurement parameters and procedures one of the most critical features of the program! It has to be clearly understood that the Print Quality Program is exclusive of SPC at a printing plant: PQE is not a substitute for SPC It s understood that there will be random variation around representative samples. The whole Brand Equity Assurance concept is about informing the customer about Brand Equity!
Gamut Boundaries - b* 120 100 80 60 40 20 0-20 -40-60 -80-100 -80-60 -40-20 0 20 40 60 80 100 Pantone Coated 2009 KCMYOG KCMY Worst Cases Where to next? EVOLUTION -100 a*
Extended Gamut It s a way of producing a larger color gamut by adding a few extra primaries to the CMYK set Gets us back to standardized conditions Uses profiles It s still taking shape, though Little mainstream support reaching back to design Experimental in Gravure (new engraving technologies help) EG is not a total replacement for Spots Some colors just don t fit in the gamut There are sometimes practical exceptions
I Wish Spot color technology seems to be culminating around Spectral Reflectance It s mathematically superior way of predicting printing There are already products out there, some old, some new, none are mainstream. We really need the ICC equivalent to a spot color prediction system. The ICC profile equivalent to a spectral vector ink, including transparency, tone reproduction, trap The equivalent of a CMM that does on-the-fly spectral combinations.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Garett Long, Southern Graphic Systems THANKS!