The key steps to establish a professional color management process

Color management plays an increasingly important role in modern printing quality. This paper mainly discusses the construction of corporate color management from three steps.

The first step: Everyone knows that human visual perception is affected by the surrounding environment. Light, the color of the walls, furniture, clothes, etc., all affect the colors we see on the display or printed sheets. Therefore, the first step in establishing a professional color management process should be to establish a neutral gray environment and standardize the light source. The ICC Association uses the D50 light source as a standard light source for the printing industry. Second, there should be a good understanding of the equipment in this color management process. Each device has its own parameters that change with time and temperature. For example, a laser printer needs to warm up before printing a steady color. Even changing the cartridge can affect the final output. As the display's cathode tube ages, the displayed color range will also change.

Before the first step, we need to perform a color check to confirm the age and condition of each device and measure the light conditions in each studio. After summing up a report, the report should highlight the changes needed and outline the suitability of color management.

Step 2: By describing the characteristics of the hardware, we can create a profile for each device during the creation process. That is, the process of creating an ICC profile for each device using a colorimeter or spectrophotometer is also color characterization. The created ICC profile must be managed to avoid operator confusion. In fact, the process of file management should be expanded to manage the new files created during the color matching process, clearly identifying each file. Successful color management also requires adequate training of operators and production personnel. This is the role of the core program. These profiles may be used at each stage of the flow to properly transmit colors.