Fogra is turning its attention to establishing proofing and process control standards for decor and textile printing alongside its established role in the commercial print workflow. This came out at the organisation’s Colour Management Systems annual conference. It underlines the growing impact of digital printing on what have been highly traditional and analogue sectors. Wallpaper printers have long depended on the eyesight of their most experienced printers to match colours, hence the batch to batch inconsistency that can result.
However, as digital printing takes over, producers gain much greater control of what is printed. With the correct tools, it is possible to anticipate the final printed outcome.
Fogra organised a shoot out between Metis, X-Rite and CGS to measure which is the best match between proofing and production print. Because of the nature of decor print, Fogra used ISO 24585 to define the viewing distance. This is the established standard for the sector. Further shoot outs will follow given the interest shown in the first effort.
This leads to real examples of how reliable colour references can help achieve consistency between conventional and digital printing. Many decor printers have been concerned that creating standard procedures would lead to customers investing to print in house. However, Malte Tadday, from Interprint which has invested in Koenig & Bauer Rotajets to run alongside conventional systems, says this is misplaced. “Customers only became print service providers because there were not satisfied with what they were getting,” he told the gathering.
The Process Standard approach that Fogra has driven has proven effective in other sectors where standards are not yet clearly defined and accepted, a common standard between UV offset and continuous inkjet for example. Likewise the conference heard about how offset printed products should be treated for digital printing, or between offset and flexo printing.
Adding predictability came into a session on textile printing. Vistaprint’s Heike Hafke explained how the new Fogra 58 RGB interchangeable colour space. This, he said, has allowed colour to be displayed more accurately, with less contamination and improved font quality when printing textile materials. It remains a sector where developments continue apace, hence the continuing popularity of the event. This year it attracted 215 participants from 146 countries.
