We sat down this week with Label Tech Sales Executive Jeremy Goldstein to discuss how customers can take steps to ensure product quality. Here is what he had to say about state of the art color proofing.
Youve created the perfect logo or art for your company. Now all you need are some labels to spread the word about your awesome product or company. How can you be sure the produced label will match the design youve created on your computer? To properly understand this process, we first need to understand the difference between what you see on your computer and what is printed on the presses.
All TV, computer and electronic display screens create color by generating red, green and blue (RGB) lights. Whereas monitors emit light, inked paper absorbs or reflects specific wavelengths. Typical printing presses use 4 colors of ink. The four inks are placed on the paper in layers of dots that combine to create the illusion of many more colors. CMYK refers to the 4 ink colors used by the printing press, short for Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black. What all this boils down to is that images on your monitor will sometimes look different than the final printed piece.
So, once again, how can you be sure your printed product matches youre vision. The answer; request a color proof. A color proof is the most accurate way to preview the output of a commercial print job. Also called a "match-print," the colors approved by the customer in the proof are rendered identically in the finished job.
The leading digital proofing system on the market today is EFI Colorproof XF. The technology handles each step of the color measurement process automatically from linearization, profiling, calibration, optimization and verification. This ensures the proofs are produced consistently and with accurate color every time. The technology even goes a step further with Colorproof XFs final run characteristic simulation. While proofs usually match the final run in terms of color, they often times look too good (or smooth) because the final run characteristics typically are not simulated. Colorproof XFs final run characteristic simulation features deliver the closest match to the final run. Missing dot, first printing dot and noise simulation are powerful features for matching the press characteristics in flexographic printing.
If you want to be certain that your labels colors match your vision, request a color proof. By taking this important step you will be assured there are no surprises when you receive the final product.
