Print quality evaluation and applied colour management in coldset offset newspaper print

Abstract

This article aims to investigate print quality in newspaper print, by considering the appropriate calibration standard and applying colour management. In particular, this article examines the colorimetric properties of eight Norwegian newspaper printing presses, to evaluate the relevant colour separation approach, either by applying custom separation profiles or by using an industry standard profile. The key method underlying the work described here relies on obtaining colour measurements to determine the repeatability of each participant in terms of colour differences. Furthermore, the variation between the eight newspaper printing presses and the variation according to the colorimetric values of the ISO 12647-3 standard are important parts of the quantitative evaluation. Based on the colour measurements two custom ICC profiles were generated and an industry standard profile “ISOnewspaper26v4.icc” was also used. The first custom profile was generated using averaged colour measurement data set from a test print run, and the second using a data set averaged between measured data and the characterization data set “IFRA26.txt” provided by IFRA. These three profiles were applied to four test images, which were then printed by the eight newspaper printing presses. A psychophysical experiment was carried out to determine the “pleasantness” of the reproductions, which were produced using the three profiles. The results of the study show the performance of the appropriate profile, which is applied to the eight newspaper printing presses to obtain significant best print quality. Eventually the results demonstrate the fact that the print variations in colours between the eight printing presses are larger thanthe difference between the custom and the standard profiles. Hence, the print variations and not the profile selection may have determined the visual print quality. Therefore the study reveals the importance of adopting international standards and methods instead of using insufficiently defined house standards to preserve equal results among different newspaper printing presses. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2011