Things that make me go Grrrrrrrrrrr...

Pretzel hotdog buns, yum yum.
The package label says it contains 6 buns. I wonder what the ingredients are for just one bun?
Doh! Ingredients are listed by serving weight.
But what's a serving? Do I have to weigh the package to find out what makes up 50 g?

Why couldn't they have listed it as: "Per serving (one bun: 50 g)"?

Technical tips for creating brand colors

Color is one of the most critical components in creating brand identity and while there is a fair amount of information on the psychological and cultural aspects of color - there's very little information on the technical issues that need to be considered when developing a custom or brand color.

Brand colors are custom (a.k.a. line, spot) colors that are any single color (typically other than cyan, magenta, yellow, or black) that are usually printed as a solid area of ink on a dedicated press unit.

There are two types of custom colors -
1 Proprietary
2 Referenced.

Proprietary custom colors are colors that are created by the brand owner or their creatives. Coca-Cola red and Kodak yellow are examples of proprietary brand colors.
Referenced custom colors are usually published in color palettes that are to be used by creatives to specify spot colors.

The main brands of referenced custom color palettes are:

Pantone, the dominant spot color printing system in the United States and Europe.
Toyo, a custom spot color system that is popular in Japan.DIC, Dainippon Ink & Chemicals, Inc., another popular Japanese custom color system.
ANPA a palette of 300 colors specified by the American Newspaper Publishers Association for spot color usage in newspapers.
HKS Hostmann-Steinberg Druckfarben, Kast + Ehinger Druckfarben und H. Schmincke & Co. a custom color system containing 120 spot colors and 3250 tones for coated and uncoated paper.
The main benefit of creating a proprietary brand color is that it is unique to the brand thereby enhancing the brand's unique identity. The downside is that the creatives/brand owner are required to create their own system of specifying, communicating, and manufacturing the color.

The main benefit of using colors from a reference custom color palette is that the system of specifying, communicating, and manufacturing the color has already been built. The downside is that the color is not unique to the brand and can be used by others, potentially creating confusion in the marketplace.

When creating a new proprietary custom colors to be used for brand identity keep these technical tips in mind:

1- Humans have very good color discrimination for greens and much less for blues, reds, yellows, and purples.This means that they can more easily distinguish between subtle differences in two similar greens than they can two similar reds. It also means that there are more green custom color options than there are red.

2- In offset lithography, the range of possible greens is larger than that of reds, blues, and oranges

3- Humans have poor color discrimination when hues are very saturated - I.e. saturated colors will tolerate greater variation in reproduction before a color shift is noticed.

4- RGB, CMYK, and Hexadecimal values do not actually define colors because those values are device dependent. I.e. it does not, for example, tell us the specific hue of the Cyan ink being used - a factor that will change depending on the ink manufacturer.A demonstration by Flint ink of the influence on ink color resulting from differences in the substrate upon which the ink is printed.
So, a color defined using CMYK values will also look like a different color when printed on newsprint, in a magazine, or in a brochure due to the differences in the specific CMYK inks used and the substrates they are printed on.
Instead, define the color using CIEL*a*b* reference values since these are device independent. If RGB and/or CMYK values must be provided then make sure that the version or source is included (e.g. sRGB, Adobe 1998 RGB, CMYK/SWOP, CMYK GRACoL 7, etc.) to help minimize variation.

5- Confirm that the proposed custom color is within the color gamut of the expected most used reproduction process.An application like Chromix ColorThink enables the CIEL*a*b* values of the custom color to be compared with the color gamut of the system that will be used to print it and determine if it is reproducible or not - i.e. in, or out of, gamut.
If the custom color is within gamut, it means that it can be simulated by mixing screen tint percentages of the primary inks of the print process.

6- Make sure, by testing, that the ink pigments used in the custom color will not shift hue because of heat e.g. during lamination or react with other inks or to oxygen e.g. Reflex Blue.

7- Avoid using fluorescing agents in the ink.

8- Use certified sample color swatches and CIE L*a*b* values to communicate color globally.Ideally the sample swatches should be as large as possible since the perception of color changes with coverage area. Also include a "Hi-Lo" reference which shows how much darker or lighter the color can be and still be in specification. If possible, include a CIEL*a*b* Delta E value for how far the hue of the color can deviate while still being within specification. Include the information about how the Delta E value is to be calculated (e.g. Delta E 98, Delta E 76, Delta E CMC, etc.)

9- Prevent brand bloat by consolidating/rationalizing custom color libraries. Retire old colors and consolidate colors that are very similar.

Addendum
A number of readers questioned my statement that humans have very good color discrimination for greens and less so for other colors. In the below video Eric Fossum, image sensor engineer and primary inventor of the CMOS sensor used in digital cameras, mentions the color sensitivity of the human eye during a recent talk at Yale University.

I see halftones everywhere!

Technically speaking, halftone screens are "tessallations" - patterns that cover a surface by the repeated use of a single shape, without gaps or overlapping. And since tessallations are popular decorative items - I end up seeing halftone screens everywhere. Here are a few from a recent trip to Seattle.

A classic Diamond halftone dot

An example of a high lpi traditional Square dot halftone

In contrast to a very low lpi Square dot

Waiting to cross the street I spot a mix of two halftone patterns
At first it appears to be a classic Round dot mixed with a more subtle Square dot halftone
But on closer examination it seems to be an exotic version of Esko's Concentric screening. Interestingly the pixels that make up this sidewalk halftone are round instead of the traditional square shape.

Walking past this building reveals a fine example of
Second order FM/stochastic screening.
Sometimes the final halftone screen is not visible, but instead, you can see the foundation for the halftone. Halftone screen dots are formed by a "threshold" array - basically a pattern made up of 256 shades of gray which determines which pixels are turned on to form the actual dot.
The tones of the granite pillar on this building

Make a great threshold array to create a
Mezzotint halftone (the right half of the photo below - click to enlarge)

The Flipback - challenger to the traditional eBook

The advance of technology is relentless. With the introduction of "Flipback" technology it may soon begin to erode the domain of traditional eBooks.

The Flipback format is a sideways-bound book with lie-flat binding and is sized to fit in a shirt pocket and optimized for easy one-handed reading.
Flipbacks are comprised of pages rather than bytes and pixels. Their compact size is made possible by the printing of words on wafer-thin onion paper, the same type of paper traditionally used for the printing of Bibles. Like the eBooks it may eventually replace, the Flipback is easily portable but, unlike eBooks, it needs no external power (except for physically turning the pages).

Could this invention kill the entrenched traditional readers like Kindle, Kobo, Nooks, etc?" Only time will tell if consumers are willing to adopt this innovation in reading technology.

Paper size and weight conversions

In North America, the default paper size is "Letter" size while outside North America, the default paper size is A4.

ISO 216 - Standard Metric Paper Sizes
Standard North American Sizes
Paper weights

There are two terms commonly used to describe paper weight:
• Basis Weight
 The basis weight of a paper is based on the weight of 500 sheets,
 measured in pounds, in that paper's basic sheet size. Note that the "basic sheet size" is not the same 
for all types of paper which makes comparisons of weight between different papers difficult.
• Caliper 
Caliper refers to the thickness of a sheet of paper measured with a micrometer and expressed
 in thousandth of an inch. Paper caliper should not vary more than +/- 5% to 7% 
within a sheet. Generally, there is a relation between caliper and basis weight in that 
the greater the caliper (the thicker the paper), the greater the paper weight. But not always.

Darker colored boxes represent the
most common paper weights for that category.This Table was compiled by Micro Format, Inc., Wheeing IL. Used with permission.

The Wayback View - German printshop advertising - circa 1926

German culture is noted (outside of Germany) for its engineering excellence and its lack of humor. These examples of printshop advertising posters fall into another category - graphic design excellence.

(My very rough translations)

Good print advertising and offset book printing.

Rough poster prints
The offset printing chosen by professionals. Offset papers and cartons.
Imitated but not equalled.

If your advertising needs are putting on the squeeze - we can help.

The paper problem - no specifications

Typically paper - the most used printing substrate - accounts for some 30-50 percent of the overall print project cost. And despite the fact that it is also often the most expensive component of the final presswork it's surprising that there are no published standards, specifications or trade customs in the paper industry.

The assignment of a particular grade to a quality category and the establishment of sales policies are made by each paper mill based on its own internal evaluation of its products relative to those of its competitors. 

That makes direct, objective, competitive comparisons between different papers virtually impossible. 


The color of paper is identified using adjectives like "cream","natural", "white", etc. rather than objective definitions such as the CIEL*a*b* coordinates that printers use. Again, there are no specifications or tolerances provided by mills as to the consistency of a specific paper color either through the stack, roll, or when the same brand is supplied by mills located in different regions.

The brightness of the sheet is one common measure of distinction. It is measured by comparing the amount of light reflected by the paper surface to the amount of the same light reflected by the surface of magnesium oxide established as the standard of 100%. A common term used in quoting the measure is “G.E. brightness,” although G.E. no longer manufactures the measuring instrument. "Brightness" is also not a measurement that printers or buyers can measure themselves. Even though variation is part of every manufacturing process, there are no defined tolerances for paper brightness.

There are no specifications or tolerances or even notification of optical brightener agent content. This has become a major issue as the mills have mostly switched from clay fillers to calcium carbonate. This problem has resulted in the fact that papers today, for the most part, no longer meet the ISO 12647 specification. Papers with optical brighteners are impossible to visually match between printing technologies which can cause severe disconnects between proof and presswork as well as greater color shifting as presswork and proof are viewed under different lighting conditions.

"Caliper" defines the thickness of paper, measured in thousandths of an inch, which can also be expressed as a point size - e.g. If the caliper of a paper measures .009 inches it is a "9 point" stock. As paper caliper varies, presswork color may also vary. But again there are no defined tolerances for paper caliper either through the stack, roll, or across the width or length of the sheet.
If the sheet metal used in car manufacturing was specified and toleranced with the same technical rigor as a sheet of paper is for print manufacturing - the cars would likely be undrivable.

Aurasma - Augmented reality that might replace QR codes?

After becoming very popular in Asia and Europe, QR codes are just beginning to gain popularity in North America (for more on QR codes click HERE). However a new technology that recognizes images captured by a smart phone or tablet device can do many of the things QR codes can do - without the QR code itself. In this report by the BBC note how the Aurasma technology brings printed materials to life.

A report from the BBC on the Aurasma technology, a 15 second ad precedes the 2 minute video.

A demonstration of Blippar augmented reality which also uses image recognition to bring interactivity to print.
Of course walking around holding out your smart phone as demonstrated in the video may not be a smart idea in some cities.