Understanding Color Management

Every day people encounter printed color materials that attempt to gain their attention and communicate an idea both with text and color images. As there are more channels available to reach people, graphic content creators have more choices of where to place their content and their dollars. The cost of printing has been democratized and four-color process printing is available to everyone. In addition, the Internet is another distribution channel, where color is virtually free. The expectation in terms of color quality has been raised. Ensuring that color is managed and reproduced correctly requires having the knowledge and the tools to be able to do so.

Four-color process reproduction has been available for some time now in the digital print environment. Every major equipment manufacturer has a line of four-color process digital print engines in their portfolio, and costs are decreasing. With the proliferation of digital color engines, the expectations of digital color quality have changed too. Not only do we require halftone images and vector art to vie for attention, now we’re expected to have control over the color, and hence the message that is communicated.

Color was a wow factor for digital printing, initially. In fact, studies have illustrated the ability to elicit a greater response rate and build brand recognition by utilizing color. By the same token, the incorrect reproduction of color can have dire consequences. Produce color incorrectly, and the print buyer will demand a refund or a reprint, not to mention the damage to your reputation. So how do we ensure that our color message is accurately reproduced? The answer lies with ICC color management. This technology has been available for the past 10 years and is now considered mainstream.

Though the technology has matured, there are still obstacles to achieving an excellent color match. These obstacles, or print variables, include differences in inks, toners, dot gain, hue error, tone reproduction, and color space to name a few. But don’t despair; with color management we can produce images and graphics that will match the original intent remarkably well.

Why Not a Perfect Match?

In a word: Color space. Color space has a significant impact on why a printed piece does not match the original image viewed on a monitor. Images on a monitor, for the most part, will be in the RGB (red, green, blue) color space. To produce images with this color space, different proportions of light are added together to produce a visual sensation. This is known as additive color theory.

When placing ink or toner on a paper, the subtractive color space is employed. Each of the CMYK colors is responsible for filtering one of the red, green, or blue wavelengths of light and reflecting the remaining two wavelengths of light to our eyes.

In order to better explain this concept, please see the chart below:

When we work with color, we are working with two distinct color spaces. In addition, the two color spaces vary in size. The RGB color space is significantly larger than that of its CMYK counterpart. The RGB color space can reproduce millions of colors, whereas the CMYK color space can produce a few thousand colors—paltry by comparison.

Having been involved with color management in the quick print industry, I have found the concept of color space to be very misunderstood, leading to incorrect color reproductions, incorrect expectations, and lastly, insurmountable anger from clients as to why the color was not produced correctly.

By having the knowledge that color is reproduced according to the size of the color space, it will help those of us who work with color to be able to produce it accurately. Another benefit is being able to take this esoteric information and explain it in a manner that is understandable to our clients.

It’s important to take a step back and understand that the vast majority of people who purchase four-color process printing don’t understand the technology. By explaining this concept of color space, you can prevent tempers from flaring and create a better working relationship.