The "Golden Reference"

Once in a while, even in the best-run printshops, production can go sideways, go south, foul up, mess up, screw up, and go wrong. When that happens a well run printshop turns to their "Golden Reference" as one tool to diagnose the problem and determine a solution. A Golden Reference typically it consists of a file, press sheets, proofs, plates, and documentation. It preserves a record, or "snapshot," of the prepress and print conditions when everything was working correctly. As such, when a problem occurs, the Golden Reference file can be rerun through the workflow and even on press if required. Comparing how the Golden Reference performs at each stage of the current process to the original can help isolate where the differences are and therefore reveal what may be causing the live job to go wrong. The Golden Reference is also useful for validating consumables - such as ink and plates – which may change from batch to batch. It is also useful as the standard by which new processes – such as a change in halftone screening, or a new ink type – can be compared and introduced.
Ideally, the Golden Reference test form should combine objective as well as subjective elements. Sometimes it's easier for evaluation if they are kept separate on the press form as in the sample above. Here are some suggestions for test elements you may want to include (click on image to enlarge).
Remember to make sure that, as much as possible, inline ink usage conflicts and/or influences should be avoided. Also remember that a test form like this should be run "to the numbers" - no proof should be anywhere near the press that runs it. The press operator should be instructed to achieve, as much as possible, the correct solid ink densities across the sheet and not try to make the images look "nice."
A - Standard color bar including targets for CMYK solid ink density, RGB trap, dot gain
B - Background 25C, 18M, 18Y gray with 25 K checkerboard. The primary function is to even out ink usage on press. Can also be used to check across the plate imaging consistency.
C - Solid bars of CMYK in line with the press sheet direction of travel to test solid ink density evenness around the cylinder.
D - Your standard profiling target.
E - CMYK step wedges used for building dot gain curves and ink performance curves.
F - Industry standard target.
G, H, I - Gray balance ring-around targets used to determine whether gray balance is being achieved at the required tone value combinations.
J - Gray balance targets.
K - Industry standard images.
L - Your standard images separated according to your specifications.
M - Image resolution test. The same image is sampled at 100, 200, 300, 400, 600 dpi to show minimum image resolution required for quality reproduction at your halftone line screen frequency. Also useful when changing screening type and/or frequency (lpi).
N - Max black/total area(ink) coverage target. Used to determine maximum TAC.

Be an Alien

To discover opportunities for building strong relationships with print buyers, try looking at all your customer touch points as if you were an alien explorer. Step out of your office and imagine yourself coming from some far away city with the mission of seeking out new printshop civilizations – boldly going where no print buyer has gone before – deep into the realm of Possible New Print Supplier (PNPS).
Explore your facility from this alien perspective, starting from the shop exterior as you park your terrestrial transport vehicle. Does the PNPS environment feel hostile or welcoming? Are the inhabitants engaging or stand-offish? Are they more concerned with your welfare and concerns or theirs? Do they offer guidance so that you can thrive in their unique environment? Do they respect your customs or expect you to adapt to their ways? Do they offer any materials to help bridge any communications gap? Is the feeling you have consistent throughout the PNPS realm right from entry to the delivery bay? Is this a PNPS that you would be proud to bring your associates and superiors to? Finally, is this PNPS one that would be worthwhile returning to and spending your resources with in order to establish trade relations?

Your hidden microscope

When a loupe is just not strong enough, a microscope can be a great help in analyzing press problems – especially if it can capture an image that can be shared with coworkers, or sent to vendors or consultants for evaluation. However few printers can warrant the cost of such a piece of equipment. Fortunately most shops have an excellent alternative in the form of a flatbed scanner. Even a very cheap one can do a very respectable job. The two samples below were captured using a very basic $59 (USD) desktop scanner.First, a black and white halftone (original size at left and enlargement at right - click on image to enlarge)Next, is a scan of a color bar which shows a lay down problem with the black printer (original size at left and enlargement at right- click on image to enlarge):For best results use a scanner with the highest possible native (non-interpolated) resolution. Scans at about 1200-2400 dpi seem to work best. Have the graphic to be scanned placed in line with the direction of travel of the scanning head, and use a black backing to prevent show through. Finally, scale the image in Photoshop by changing the resolution (lowering the dpi) with "Resample Image" deselected.

The value of the relationship

Long-term relationships between print buyer and supplier have both good and bad aspects. Generally, the benefit is to the seller rather than the buyer, which is why long-term relationship building is worth the investment in time and energy. With a long-term relationship buyers lose their objectivity – personal and emotional factors can overwhelm objective decision-making. Also, as print buyers become dependent on the seller’s systems, they are less likely to seriously look at competitive offerings for fear of steep learning curves and/or compatibility with legacy work. Competing sellers find it harder and harder to effectively penetrate the print buyer’s organization and decision making structure and therefore they end up making fewer calls to buyers who they feel – rightly or wrongly – are “locked-in” to steady vendors. Buyers also become lethargic, waiting until the last minute to submit increasingly less specific requests for quotes based on the assumption that their printer intuitively knows what they really want. This, in turn, makes it more difficult for competing printers to respond with an effective, competitive proposal.

Fixing art for the web so that it can be used for print

One of challenges that face printers is dealing with substandard – for print application – art supplied by their customers. Sometimes, art that has been prepared for the web ends up in layouts intended for the press. Often, the graphics contain defects like jpeg compression artifacts or pixel noise in flat color areas. On the left is a supplied graphic at 100% and to it's right a small area enlarged to show the problem artifacts more clearly.
[Click on the image to open a larger version in a new window]The tool to get rid of the image artifacts while preserving the graphic detail is the "Smart Blur" filter in Adobe Photoshop. Below is its dialog box. You will need to experiment with the settings according to the specific image that you are working with. In general the "Radius" setting will be lower than the "Threshold" setting. The preview window shows the effect of changes you make to those settings. Sometimes, if the adjustments result in degrading the image, it's better to leave some artifacts and remove them afterwords using the clone or other tools. Always use the "High Quality" setting with "Mode: Normal."The final result – the artifacts in the graphic are cleared away while the detail of the text and art is preserved.
[Click on the image to open a larger version in a new window]

Removing watercolor paper texture in flatbed scans

One of difficulties that flatbed scanners have compared to drum scanners is the way the original art is illuminated. If the surface texture is rough, as in the case of watercolor paper, the scanner will usually capture the texture as an unwanted pattern. On the left is a scan at 100% and to it's right a small area enlarged to show the watercolor paper texture problem more clearly.The tool to get rid of the paper texture while preserving the image detail is the "Smart Blur" filter in Adobe Photoshop. Below is its dialog box. You will need to experiment with the settings according to the specific image that you are working with. In general the "Radius" setting will be lower than the "Threshold" setting. The preview window shows the effect of changes you make to those settings. Sometimes, if the adjustments result in degrading the image, it's better to leave a bit of texture and remove it afterwords using the clone or eraser tool. Always use the "High Quality" setting with "Mode: Normal."The final result – the watercolor paper texture is eliminated while the detail of the painting is preserved.Watercolor study of a strawberry courtesy of Susan Pritchard. To visit her blog, please click HERE

Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Mozart, RGB

We often hear creatives asking the printer to give their color more "pop" - or make it "sing."
Well, now there may be a way to do just that. RGB MusicLab is a free application for the MAC OS that converts the RGB pixel values of an image to Chromatic scale music (MIDI or AIFF file) by reading a score directly from the image data.
And if the music the image creates is not very melodic...well, you can honestly blame the original supplied art for that.
You can download the application by clicking HERE

Buying print – it's scary!

Unfortunately printers seldom buy print themselves, because if they did, they’d have a better understanding of the customer’s perspective – and it’s that perspective that helps determine who gets the print order and who gets the “thanks for your interest” email.
Buying print is scary.
An idea in the creative’s mind. Weeks, maybe months of creative concepts and compromises. Juggling the conflicts of design, text, photography, and illustrations. Their customer approval, finally, based on a concept expressed in awkward inkjet printouts and presentations to the stakeholders. An RFQ based on print specs that may not make any real production sense. Then comes the quotes from maybe three, four, or more printers. If the quotes are within 5% or 10% of each other – how do they choose? If one or more quotes is wildly out, did the printer misunderstand the project? Or are they the only one that really understood the specs? Maybe they're buying the job just to keep the presses running? Are they cutting corners somewhere? One printer changed the specs because they said quality would suffer if it was printed as specified!
How to choose a printer? It’s scary.