Colour Management from Imagination to Printing!
We are an independent Colour Management Consultancy, based in Hertfordshire, U.K., and have been helping our clients since 1997.
We specialise in Colour Management Consultancy and Training for the Printing, Pre-press, Advertising, Design, Photographic and Publishing Industries.
If you desire the very best colour, we are here to help you.
Modern ICC Colour Management technology, when correctly implemented, ensures the most faithful rendition of the original photograph, or with digital photography the original scene, through to the printed result. This site will introduce our Colour Management Consultancy and Training services. Our services encompass the whole spectrum of ICC Colour Management and include ICC profiling and troubleshooting colour problems with inkjet printers, proofing systems, scanners, colour monitors and offset presses. This site will also provide you with a little background information on modern Colour Management and ICC Profiling and Profiles. There are also a few useful hints and tips. There is a lot of useful information on high-end scanning, which is a particular expertise of ours. These pages will be updated from time to time, so keep checking!
Colour Management News and Tips
from
Phil Cruse
This question comes up every few weeks! A RIP is a "Raster Image Processor". Don't worry about the meaning. What it will do is properly control your inkjet or laser printer's colour. Indeed it is very difficult for experts to achieve accurate colour from CMYK images without a RIP! All high-end printers are in fact designed to be used in conjunction with a RIP, and therefore come with a only a very basic "driver", or sometimes a bundled RIP. A RIP will enable you to proof images and pages to simulate a production offset printing press, usually to an ISO standard. This is just as important for designers as for prepress houses. Better quality RIPs also have calibration software to help experts achieve the best result from the printer and paper, and keep it there! More Info Here
ISO Standard in Printing. What's it all about?Many leading printing companies worldwide are now working to the latest ISO (International Standards Organisation) ISO-12647 standards. Many Publishers also require supplied images and proofs to be created to those standards. These standards are revised after lengthy discussions around the world by many technical committees.
You have probably also heard the phrases "FOGRA 39" and "ECI" and wondered what they are? FOGRA is the German Printing Industries Research Organisation, which is a member of the ECI, or European Colour Initiative. They jointly issue ICC Profiles which help you print, proof and view images to the ISO standard. "FOGRA 39" is the most popular of a long list of "Data Sets" from which ICC Profiles are made. This profile describes sheetfed offset printing on Paper Types 1 & 2, which are very high-quality, very "white" coated papers. They also provide very sound specifications for various types of printing. Please refer to our Printing Specifications page for more information.
All of this may be a bit daunting for those new to Colour Management. In which case you should consult an expert. We normally do this as part of a "Colour Tune-up". In the U.K. we are here to help you!