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12647 and all that – Colour Management in Printing – Part 5

admin — Thu, 14 May 2009 08:00:04 +0000

12647 and all that – Colour Management in Printing – Part 5 – 14th May 2009

Digital input needed
Certification by a government accredited body such as PMC gives print buyers proof that a printer can produce high quality colour print and achieve defined targets, both on-press with documented colour management, and in handling customers. Buyers can hopefully spend less time asking for proof of competence. It could also mean that their work doesn’t need to be tied to a specific printer: as long as reprints are done by an accredited service provider. The same quality can be expected.

The UK’s certification scheme was designed to improve quality for printers with conventional offset presses, but its scope readily includes digital printing. Digital printers who follow it can benefit from the business process controls it requires for compliance, as well as quality assurance. However their input is vital for the future because, as Mr Sherfield explains: ‘From a colour management and standard viewpoint many of the manufacturers are not supplying workflows that reflect the latest standards, and have colour management tools that are often difficult and counterintuitive to use. Clients need to be clear on their colour requirements from digital printing: do they need common appearance across a campaign using digital and other printing methods? In turn users need the knowledge and expertise to meet the client’s expectations. So… there are many gaps and pitfalls in the area’.

Optimised process controls reduce consumables waste and save time. It can also offer greater latitude for achieving good quality on lower grade stocks than might otherwise be possible. Becoming a formally certified ISO 12647 printers can be a boost to a business’s credentials, while for customers is gives a guarantee of reliable and consistent quality, with a defined complaints procedure when things go wrong. As it should lead to greater efficiencies, this can also be a way to cut costs, despite the initial outlay for certification.

To be continued…

See Part one of – The magic circle – print, paper and recycling

Also part one of in Flight, preflight and post flight –

& Part one of this blog -

Print Buying Direct is one of the leading websites for buying print and is a brand of The Printing House Ltd, Crewe, Cheshire, UK

The Printing House are specialists and experts in Prospectus of all kinds – see our dedicated prospectus Website www.schoolprospectus.info – New on our Schools site – have a look at our new turn page technology (also known as digital editions)- have your prospectus or brochure online (digital prospectus or digital brochure) – but turn the pages as if it was paper.

Don’t forget to see our new offer – Budget Black and white leaflets – 10,000 Leaflets designed, printed and delivered for only £199

Best of all – don’t forget that our Banner Stands (pull up banners) are still only £99 plus delivery!

Business Cards (Business Card Printing) – £10 for 100 Full Colour Business Cards.

We’re still running our very popular Lettterheads Campaign. 2000 letterheads for only £125 in full colour, printed onto a quality 100gsm laser guaranteed paper. see our letterheads webpage for more info.

At The Printing House (Print Buying Direct) we are experts at helping you with the production of your newsletter, whether it be for your employees, customers or fellow club members. See our Newsletters web page for help and advice.

Keep an eye out for our new website for The Printing House Ltd, due for relaunch in May.

Our superb Wallet Folders are still on offer – see http://www.printbuyingdirect.co.uk/wallet-folders.html

12647 and all that – Colour Management in Printing – Part 4

admin — Wed, 13 May 2009 07:34:16 +0000

12647 and all that – Colour Management in Printing – Part 4 – 13th May 2009
Auditing print
PMC and its equivalents abroad categorically do not provide any consulting services, unlike Fogra and UGRA. Their qualifications are internationally endorsed by governments, which require absolutely squeaky clean auditor credentials. Auditors in the UK must complete a week-long course, followed by on the job training before they can be considered qualified. PMC has already run one of these courses, described by Mr Lindstrom as ‘very demanding and professionally executed’ and has another scheduled for June.

Jon Stack, scheme manager at PMC, explains that ‘the auditors on the course are not qualified to certify – it’s only accredited certification bodies that can do that. For those on the course wishing to become auditors, they first have to pass the course, and then go through on the job training with us to become fully qualified auditors’.
The PMC course is demanding, but that is as it should be for certification to have teeth and to make sure that print buyers really can trust it. Formal certification can also help printers in disputes since it requires documentation of their complaints procedures and quality assurance controls.

To be continued…

See Part one of – The magic circle – print, paper and recycling

Also part one of in Flight, preflight and post flight –

& Part one of this blog -

Print Buying Direct is one of the leading websites for buying print and is a brand of The Printing House Ltd, Crewe, Cheshire, UK

Don’t forget to see our new offer – Budget Black and white leaflets – 10,000 Leaflets designed, printed and delivered for only £199

Best of all – don’t forget that our Banner Stands (pull up banners) are still only £99 plus delivery!

Business Cards (Business Card Printing) – £10 for 100 Full Colour Business Cards.

Keep an eye out for our new website for The Printing House Ltd, due for relaunch in May.

Our superb Wallet Folders are still on offer – see http://www.printbuyingdirect.co.uk/wallet-folders.html

12647 and all that – Colour Management in Printing – Part 3

admin — Tue, 12 May 2009 07:27:03 +0000

12647 and all that – Colour Management in Printing - Part 3 – 12th May 2009
Commercial certification
Certification to ISO 12647 is not news. Fogra, the research arm of the German printing trade association BVDM, offers its FograCert service for certifying a proofing system’s compliance with 12647-7. It’s a snip at £6000. It also has certification for compliance to its Process Standard Offset (PSO) which is based on ISO 12647-2.

According to Fogra: ‘externally, this certificate provides proof of the quality a printing or media company is capable of an internally it ensures smooth production that helps to avoid complaints.’ In other words, you can wave your certificate at print buyers to prove you can hit the appropriate colour standard.

The Swiss organisation UGRA also certifies to Fogra’s PSO and both organisations train consultants to audit companies for certification. The problem with this is that these organisations provide consulting services and both also sell testing and measuring devices for colour print. It’s hardy an arm’s length accreditation service.

Instead of taking this route the BPIF’s technical committee has been working with a UK government recognised expert committee, led by Mr Sherfield. The committee has come up with a certification procedure intended to provide the guarantee print buyers need, without involving conflicts of interest. This model follows ISO 12647 and borrows heavily from ISO 9001, the standard that defines quality management for a business. Although this standard is not specific to the printing industry, many printers are ISO 90001 accredited already.

This one is defiantly relevant for digital printers, as Mr Sherfield explains: ‘Regarding validation and even formed certification for digital, this has to be based on the technology used. An HP Indigo can be process controlled in a similar way to an offset press in order to match ISO 12647-2. Other devices need to be treated as proofing systems, so ISO 12647-7 methods will work in this case. Using the maximum gamut is in effect a ‘house’ standard, but still needs validation. Most of the validation software for printing and proofs can use imported custom CMYK profiles as the validation standard’.

Much of the work that’s been done so far for the UK echoes work already completed in Sweden by the Swedish Printers’ Federation. This organisation began its accreditation efforts some 18 months before the BPIF and has been extremely active in funding and resourcing the development and promotion of its certification procedure. Their investment is already paying off, with an increasing number of printers requesting certification at the behest of customers keen to simplify print buying processes.

Paul Lindstrom, special consultant to the Swedish Printers’ Federation says that: ‘Besides offering customers a product specific quality guarantee, the printers often find that they reduce waste and errors, as well as shorten make ready times’.

In the UK, the expert committee has completed its work and is awaiting approval for its documentation from UKSA, the internationally recognised UK Accreditation Service. ISO has a standard (ISO 17021) for checking the certifiers themselves, which is what UKAS does.

In the UK there is only one company authorised to accredit printing companies for compliance to 12647 in addition to other international standards. Print and Media Certification (PMC). This works exclusively in the world wide paper, printing and publishing industries, providing assessment and certification services in the UK and elsewhere.

To be continued…

See Part one of – The magic circle – print, paper and recycling

Also part one of in Flight, preflight and post flight –

& Part one of this blog -

Print Buying Direct is one of the leading websites for buying print and is a brand of The Printing House Ltd, Crewe, Cheshire, UK

Don’t forget to see our new offer – Budget Black and white leaflets – 10,000 Leaflets designed, printed and delivered for only £199

Best of all – don’t forget that our Banner Stands (pull up banners) are still only £99 plus delivery!

Business Cards (Business Card Printing) – £10 for 100 Full Colour Business Cards.

Keep an eye out for our new website for The Printing House Ltd, due for relaunch in May.

Our superb Wallet Folders are still on offer – see http://www.printbuyingdirect.co.uk/wallet-folders.html

12647 and all that – Colour Management in Printing – Part 2

admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:16:37 +0000

12647 and all that – Colour Management in Printing – Part 2 – 11th May 2009

Establishing a standard
In the offset print world, the BPIF has already recognised that this is making life difficult for its members and is working to take general quality assurance controls one step further.

The idea is to provide a certification procedure that accredits printing companies for compliance to ISO 12647. This is the international standard for Graphic Technology Process Control for the production of Half – tone Colour Separations, Proofs and Production Prints. You can tell it’s important because of all those capitals. It is divided into seven sections: one defines parameters and measuring methods and the rest are specific to different print processes (offset, newspapers, gravure, screen, flexo and proofing).

An eighth is under consideration, but there is so far no subsection for digital printing systems. These often have different print characteristics to any of the conventional processes. While it may be often desirable to match digital to something else sometimes that would artificially limit its quality potential. Another problem is that there are a lot of digital ‘marking engine’ technologies, each with their own characteristics, unlike say offset presses that all use broadly similar plates, blankets and have agreed standards for process ink colours.

Even so, elements of the ISO 12647 offset and proofing parts can apply o digital work. Paul Sherfield, principal consultant with the Missing Horse Consultancy group, explains: ‘ISO 12647-2 is the litho part of the standard, based on the colour gamuts available from litho presses, inks and papers. Digital printing devices, though still mainly CMYK, have differing, often bigger gamuts. The question is what standard or gamut to use? This must be dependent upon the purpose of the piece. In a mixed printing process campaign, the litho colour gamut will be the smallest, so the other processes used have to colour manage their output to ISO 12647-2. if only one form of digital printing is being used, say wide format inkjet, the maximum gamut of the device can be used to produces great results, but only if it starts from a good RGB image’.

To be continued…

See Part one of – The magic circle – print, paper and recycling

Also part one of in Flight, preflight and post flight – & Part one of this blog -

Print Buying Direct is the online facility for buying print of The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK

Don’t forget to see our new offer – Budget Black and white leaflets – 10,000 Leaflets designed, printed and delivered for only £199

Best of all – don’t forget that our Banner Stands (pull up banners) are still only £99 plus delivery!

Business Cards (Business Card Printing) – £10 for 100 Full Colour Business Cards.

Keep an eye out for our new website for The Printing House Ltd, due for relaunch in May.

Our superb Wallet Folders are still on offer – see http://www.printbuyingdirect.co.uk/wallet-folders.html

12647 and all that – Colour Management in Printing – Part 1

admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:43:49 +0000

12647 and all that – Colour Management in Printing – Part 1 – 11th May 2009
It may not have a snappy name, but the ISO 12647 standard can help digital printers prove that their colour is up to scratch. Laurel Brunner elucidates.

It’s fair to say that compared to conventional offset, digital technology is a relatively new business with a unique scope to change how print is used. Advances in quality mean that digital print is no longer a second-rate alternative to real offset, so for many jobs these days it is considerations of responsiveness, cost and format that are the deciding factors when choosing between processes. Yet while many digital printers can certainly compete with offset for output quality, just saying so is not enough for print buyers. They increasingly demand absolute quality guarantees.

So far there is no formally recognised methodology for quality assurance, nor is there any guarantee that steps to achieve it are implemented consistently. Print buyers have to trust their eyes or go through often convoluted processes of quality checking. For printers this means they often have to provide themselves against subjective criteria and expectations over which they have little control.

To be continued…

See Part one of – The magic circle – print, paper and recycling

Also part one of in Flight, preflight and post flight

Print Buying Direct is the online facility for buying print of The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK

Don’t forget to see our new offer – Budget Black and white leaflets – 10,000 Leaflets designed, printed and delivered for only £199

Best of all – don’t forget that our Banner Stands (pull up banners) are still only £99 plus delivery!

Business Cards (Business Card Printing) – £10 for 100 Full Colour Business Cards.

Keep an eye out for our new website for The Printing House Ltd, due for relaunch in May.

Our superb Wallet Folders are still on offer – see http://www.printbuyingdirect.co.uk/wallet-folders.html

In flight, preflight, and post flight – part 3

admin — Thu, 07 May 2009 07:48:40 +0000

In flight, preflight, and post flight – part 3 – 7th May 2009

Taking responsibility
However, a more specific explanation lies somewhere between the creative stage, that is designing the layout, and the print stage, where ink finally gets put on paper. As a rule, graphic designers do not want to be bothered with technical information. This has been proven time and time again.

Regardless, they are responsible for their creations, and as part of a larger workflow picture, need to consider a quality control aspect. An aspect that doe not take the designer too far away from the ‘creative process. This is the perfect place and graphic designers should use a built- in preflight tool or plug-in within Adobe InDesign, where the creative process begins.

The actual time to use ‘that other side of the brain’ and to make sure the project meets specifications happens after the creative stage. Checking mechanical aspects of the file, for the right image formats, no low resolution images used etc. These type of checks typically happen at the pre-production department. Often, creative and production departments are combined – that is the ‘creative’ person does the production too. However, these are two complete and distinct disciplines. Personnel in production departments tend to be more mechanically inclined for performing the majority of preflight checks then collect and package the job lastly produce a PDF.

To be continued…

See Part one of – The magic circle – print, paper and recycling – also part one of this blog – in Flight, preflight and post flight

Print Buying Direct is the online facility for buying print of The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK

Don’t forget to see our new offer – Budget Black and white leaflets – 10,000 Leaflets designed, printed and delivered for only £199

Best of all – don’t forget that our Banner Stands (pull up banners) are still only £99 plus delivery!

Business Cards (Business Card Printing) – £10 for 100 Full Colour Business Cards.

Keep an eye out for our new website for The Printing House Ltd, due for relaunch in May.

Our superb Wallet Folders are still on offer – see http://www.printbuyingdirect.co.uk/wallet-folders.html

In flight, preflight, and post flight – part 2

admin — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:02:04 +0000

In flight, preflight, and post flight – part 2 – 6th May 2009

For years, workhouse preflight applications such as FlightCheck Professional and PitStop Professional added, and continue to add, value in the preflight process. Where Adobe Live Preflighting stops or is limited both FlightCheck and Pitstop taker over. For instance, the ‘Sharing the Preflight profile with Acrobat’ point is easily remedied with FlightCheck because is examines both native files formats as well as PDF files. Another example, the ‘Allowing Custom profiles to be shared and downloaded’ point is remedied with Ground Control sets. Ground Controls can easily be set up and shard with other.

Complete control
FlightCheck Professional is an all encompassing preflight technology, developed by the founders and US patent holders of the preflight process, Markzware. This standalone application provides time tested software to both preflight and post flight digital files destined for print. For more than 13 years, the system has embodied an innovative method of checking more than 50 files format. These include Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, QuarkXPress and the resulting PDF. This application gives printers and layout artist alike, a quick, easy and standardised way of checking numerous disparate files in and out of a work flow.

Yet another technology is the Enfocus PitStop product. This tool is also highly regarded by printers at the post fight stage and excellent for checking PDFs. Further, it can also edit PDFs, which is often a necessary evil.
The question is: why use Adobes Live Preflight, Markzware’s FlightCheck Professional and Enfocus’ Pitstop together?
The answer is simple: For complete quality control.

To be continued…

See Part one of – The magic circle – print, paper and recycling

Print Buying Direct is the online facility for buying print of The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK

Don’t forget to see our new offer – Budget Black and white leaflets – 10,000 Leaflets designed, printed and delivered for only £199

Best of all – don’t forget that our Banner Stands (pull up banners) are still only £99 plus delivery!

Business Cards (Business Card Printing) – £10 for 100 Full Colour Business Cards.

Keep an eye out for our new website for The Printing House Ltd, due for relaunch in May.

Our superb Wallet Folders are still on offer – see http://www.printbuyingdirect.co.uk/wallet-folders.html

The magic circle – print, paper and recycling – Part 5

admin — Tue, 05 May 2009 07:53:55 +0000

The magic circle – print, paper and recycling – 4th May 2009 – Part 5

Better than ever

Tullis Russell, agrees that there is still a strong call for recycleds, but that print buyers are looking for top quality grades.’ The demands of the print, design and publishing markets continue to evolve and the clear message we are receiving from end users are brand holders is that the availability of recycled grades is more important than ever,’ he said. ‘However, it is vital that these green products continue to deliver the superior performance expected from such recognised brands. Achieving this balance has been at the heart of our new product development strategy and has resulted in us introducing recycled grades across our leading premium quality board range, trucard.’

‘The trucard recycled portfolio now includes a variety of recycled options in trucard 1 gloss, trucard 2 gloss and, in uncoated products, trucard 0 matt and felt.

‘Made to the same premium standard as the rest of the range, all the new additions contain 50% virgin fibre and 50% post consumer deinked recycled fibre. As such, they carry the National Association of Paper Merchant (NAPM) recycled mark as well as FSC certification.

‘The top quality recycled fibre used in manufacture of the recycled range guarantees there is no compromise in performance. The new recycled products print and convert like standard trucard. These new versions give users and specifiers a genuine recycled cartonboard with the same outstanding performance and give users an even greater choice when looking for a board with sound environmental credentials.’

Whether you are looking for the lightweight or heavyweight, high white or ‘natural’, there are plenty of options available that will truly help to close the loop an from the ‘magic circle’ of recycling.

To be continued…

See Part one of this blog – The magic circle – print, paper and recycling

Print Buying Direct is the online facility for buying print of The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK

Don’t forget to see our new offer – Budget Black and white leaflets – 10,000 Leaflets designed, printed and delivered for only £199

Best of all – don’t forget that our Banner Stands (pull up banners) are still only £99 plus delivery!

Business Cards (Business Card Printing) – £10 for 100 Full Colour Business Cards.

Keep an eye out for our new website for The Printing House Ltd, due for relaunch in May.

Our superb Wallet Folders are still on offer – see http://www.printbuyingdirect.co.uk/wallet-folders.html

The magic circle – print, paper and recycling – 1st May 2009 – Part 4

admin — Fri, 01 May 2009 09:27:09 +0000

The magic circle – print, paper and recycling – 1st May 2009 – Part 4

Natural landscape

Recycled’s also come in a range of colours and textures. The Cairn range, for instance, from speciality recycled paper merchant paperback has some interesting alternatives for those looking for a natural recycled. Made with 100% recycled fibre, the range includes a number of shades that enhance the paper’s ‘pure’ appeal.

In white, cream and buff, Cairn is available in a selection of paper weights, as well as kraft and ribbed kraft versions. It also comes as Cairn Straw, with flecks of straw included in the paper in 120, 200 and 320 g/m2 weights.

There is also a selection of chunky Cairn Boards in 500, 700, 1000 micron in 14 colours; a 650 micron available in three colours; and a 2000 micron available in nine colours. The board colours are sympathetic to the recycled nature of the paper and include shades such as Saffron, Cinnamon, Chocolate, Sans, Stone and Charcoal.

Paperback is finding that there is still strong demand for these genuine recycled. The company’s Alan Goschalk said, ‘Whilst the number of environmentally friendly certified papers is expanding rapidly, there is still a significant segment of the green market that sees recycled paper as the first choice.

‘We are also finding considerable interest in those grades with a strong, natural appearance or texture. Cairn papers and boards are proving particularly popular with designers looking for creative papers that have a recycled appearance and effectively communicate the green message’.

The company has also recently extended its Context range, adding Birch and Cork. These smooth uncoated papers are available from 80 to 280 g/m2 in ivory and buff and include a distinctive fleck.

For more than 200 years Garnetts has been manufacturing speciality papers and the company has embraced the demand for recycled and environmentally friendly products. As part of its on-going developments, Garnetts has recently launched the 100% recycled Dales range of buff and tinted boards.

To be continued…

See Part one of this blog – The magic circle – print, paper and recycling

Print Buying Direct is the online facility for buying print of The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK

Don’t forget to see our new offer – Budget Black and white leaflets – 10,000 Leaflets designed, printed and delivered for only £199

Best of all – don’t forget that our Banner Stands (pull up banners) are still only £99 plus delivery!

Business Cards (Business Card Printing) – £10 for 100 Full Colour Business Cards.

Keep an eye out for our new website for The Printing House Ltd, due for relaunch in May.

Our superb Wallet Folders are still on offer – see http://www.printbuyingdirect.co.uk/wallet-folders.html

The magic circle – print, paper and recycling – 1st May 2009 – Part 3

admin — Fri, 01 May 2009 07:52:40 +0000

The magic circle – print, paper and recycling – 1st May 2009 – Part 3

Whiter than white

There are plenty of companies that specify recycled papers because they want an earthy, natural look and fell. There are also many corporates who want to show their support for the environment, but insist on a clean white paper.

The latest whiter than white paper comes from Steinbeis, with EvolutionWhite carrying a brightness of ISO 100.
‘Decision makers who choose EvolutionWhite, whilst making use of the optical advantages of a 100% white recycled paper, are at the same time path breakers in protection of the climate and resources, ‘said Michael Soffge, CEO at Steinbeis Papier.

Not only is it made from 100% recycled fibres, the paper also carries the Blue Angel environmental label.
The newly formed Arjowiggins Graphic is also promising a soon to be launched ultra white brand with Cocoon. It will be made from 100% recycled fibre and it has been indicated that the paper will be whiter than virgin qualities.
Lenzing Papier is a leading manufacturer of recycled papers. Its Lenzing Premium Quality covers many print applications. The range is suitable for text and cover, brochures and advertising material, annual reports, letters and envelopes, books, pre-print and OCR. This high bulk offset paper offers good opacity and a pleasing surface feel.

The company also manufacturers a wide portfolio of other recycled options including Lenza-Top Recycling, Lenza – Top- Recycling Pure, Lenza – Top0 Recycling Super, Lenza care, Lenza Green, Impact and 100% Recycled Copier.

The mill is currently working on new developments, which will lead to ground breaking products destined to come to market soon, helping to maintain its position at the forefront of recycled paper development.

Premier Beswick is launching new additions to its Evolution recycles range. The range consists of Evolution 100 Business Offset, a 100% recycled uncoated paper; Evolution 100 Premium Silk, an FSC certified 100% recycled coated quality. This high white shade and fast ink drying times are characteristics not normally found in 100% recycled papers; Evolution 76 Gloss and Satin – a 75% recycled option is available in both satin and gloss finishes; Evolution 100 Catalogue Gloss and Silk, another 100% recycled option which has been developed as a publishing grade; Evolution 100 Text, a 100% recycled uncoated quality with excellent whiteness and surface texture; and Evolution 100 Digital, an FSC certified 100% recycled uncoated quality guaranteed for digital applications.

To be continued…

See Part one of this blog – The magic circle – print, paper and recycling

Print Buying Direct is the online facility for buying print of The Printing House Ltd of Crewe, Cheshire, UK

Don’t forget to see our new offer – Budget Black and white leaflets – 10,000 Leaflets designed, printed and delivered for only £199

Best of all – don’t forget that our Banner Stands (pull up banners) are still only £99 plus delivery!

Business Cards (Business Card Printing) – £10 for 100 Full Colour Business Cards.

Keep an eye out for our new website for The Printing House Ltd, due for relaunch in May.

Our superb Wallet Folders are still on offer – see http://www.printbuyingdirect.co.uk/wallet-folders.html