PACKAGING ALLIANCEPART TWO: GETTING COLOR RIGHT WITH GMG

THE STORY TO NOW…

Chicago-area craft brewer Church Street Brewing Company was seeking a breakthrough way to further establish its growing brand among craft-beer fans and entice new customers. Knowing one of the best strategies was an all-new offering with a compelling label, Church Street planned a soft-launch of its new “Special Hell” beer at Labelexpo in September followed by the main launch a few weeks later. The new brew, as its name implies, is a pale German-style brew. Anyone familiar with the pils beers of Dusseldorf or the kolsch brews of Cologne will have an idea of what to expect.

In episode one, Church Street Brewing decided on digital printing as the most cost-effective means of producing short run labels and cartons for the launch of Special Hell. The demanding job specs required accurate, consistent spot colors, metallics, and laser-trimming. From design to final label everything had to be right. And because the initial runs would be short, a streamlined workflow was essential.

The process began with Hybrid Software’s PACKZ and PRINTPLANNER products to build a rock-solid workflow that would control the job from design, through digital color management and proofing from GMG, and to production on the Screen Truepress L350 UV press at Screen USA’s facility near Chicago. Watch for Episode Three about printing the labels, coming in August! Then get the entire three-part white paper at Labelexpo in Chicago.

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RIP AGNOSTIC COLOR

Ensuring the colors were as perfect as possible was the job of Anderson & Vreeland partner GMG whose technology was used for prototyping, proofing and color management of the Special Hell beer label. GMG is a worldwide leader in color management for packaging with innovative technology that provides consistent, reliable color across all printing methods.

The goal of any color management system is accurately predicting the appearance of the final product as early in the process as possible—then reliably matching the colors regardless of the print platform used. GMG’s RIP agnostic approach defines all colors using digital values regardless of the RIP being used. This makes the process much easier while helping ensure accuracy, enhancing quality, reducing the steps and labor involved, and improving profit margins.

PROTOTYPING ESSENTIALThe metallic effects used on the Special Hell label made it necessary to physically examine the final product before production began. To accomplish this, GMG ColorProof proofing software was used in conjunction with a Roland LEC UV printer with white ink. The Roland was calibrated to GRACoL to mirror the calibration that would be be used on the Screen L350 UV press. Using the same metallic foil as planned for final production allowed CSW, a pre-media company in Ludlow, Massachusetts, to optimize the artwork created by the label designer.

Once the prototyping was completed and the print ready file created, a contract proof was created on an Epson P 9000—also using GMG ColorProof—and distributed to all stake holders for final approval. Since Screen has a GMG ColorProof and Epson proofing system in its Chicago facility, ColorProof’s built in remote proofing capability could be used to produce a contract proof on-site prior to printing. For many converters, this remote process can save critical time in the fast-paced world of digital converting.

With prototyping and proofing completed, the next step was ensuring the digital press would match the proof, completing the color management process. GMG ColorServer Professional and GMG SmartProfiler were used to calibrate and color manage the Screen L350 UV label press.

For some tangible proof you can inspect,

enjoy, and take home with you, be sure

to get your very own sample of Church

Street’s Special Hell and its label—fresh

off of a Screen Truepress 350 UV at Labelexpo.

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The original artwortk in GMG Color’s FlexoProof

A COLOR MANAGED PDFTraditional RIP based color management has proven problematic for meeting the demands of the packaging market. Furthermore, differences in RIP vendors’ implementation of color management make cross-platform color management more complex than necessary. For example, most RIPs driving digital presses can use an ICC profile to manage the CMYK appearance of the printed output, but fall short in the critical functions of printer calibration and re-calibration. Since these functions are not defined or standardized within the ICC specification, RIP vendors develop their own solutions. However, many RIPs leave users constantly chasing color and making subjective edits to colors as the press changes over time. The different vendor approaches also create problems working across multiple RIPs and presses that can cause quality levels to vary. Furthermore, because the ICC specification does not address spot color matching for digital presses, it creates an undependable component of RIP-based color management.

GMG replaces these uncertainties with a highly accurate, easy-to-use method for managing any digital press: PDF based color management. Within this process all color calibration and color matching are built into the print ready PDF file. This essentially takes the RIP out of the loop for controlling color, moving all color control upstream to a centralized GMG color management system. Here’s how it works.

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GMG ColorServer is a PDF-to-PDF color processing system that pre-processes all elements of the final product before the RIP. ColorServer does not RIP the file, but retains vector elements and is non-destructive to any embedded data within the original PDF file. Because the same GMG technology used in ColorProof for prototyping and proofing is also used in GMG ColorServer, the on-press match exceeds that of any other color management method. In addition, GMG SmartProfiler is a wizard-based software package that is easy to use and learn. This color managed PDF approach works across multiple digital presses and can also be used to color manage analog converting for converters using both conventional and digital presses. Using a single color management method across all converting platforms simplifies the entire process while enhancing final quality, customer satisfaction, and providing superior cost control.

GMG COLOR

Press Calibration and Re-calibration establish an optimal color ‘base line’ for the Screen Truepress L350 UV. The re-calibration function returns the press to the same baseline over time, which is critical for re-prints where repeatable color is vital.

Profile Creation. For the Special Hell labels, the L350 is set up to match GRACoL using SmartProfiler, which automates the creation of the GRACoL match and a hot folder workflow needed to process the PDF files on ColorServer. SmartProfiler could just as easily have created a match to an analog press or other print standard, an advantage in mixed production environments.

Spot Color mapping. The GMG ColorServer optimizes spot color match with a spot color editor and database. This function operates independently of the GRACoL match used for the CMYK data and allows fine-tuning of the ‘let down’ as well as the solid color. GMG’s Spot Color editor uses the ‘calibrated gamut’ (established during calibration) to ensure the spot color match remains the same when the press is re-calibrated.

THREE CRITICAL COLOR TASKS FOR SPECIAL HELL LABELS

1

2

3

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PROFITABLE REPRINTING

For most converters, accurate consistent color is of paramount importance, and optimizing control over this process is key to efficiency and productivity. The next step, accurately and reliably reprinting previously printed materials, should be one of the most profitable components of a converter’s business. But with commonly used tools, re-calibrating a digital or conventional press to a predictable baseline is complex and time consuming, slowing turnaround times and eroding potential profits. Furthermore, whether a job is printed conventionally or digitally, chances are it was created digitally, so it makes both operational and business sense to manage its color digitally throughout the print production process.

The GMG color managed PDF workflow used for Church Street Brewing’s Special Hell label represents the most precise method for color managing complex converting methods. Moreover, when longer production runs begin using a conventional press, the color management is already under complete control. Using this single approach delivers unrivaled color matching across all printing methods and allows any digital print platform to fit into existing analog converting systems. Calibration and recalibration functions eliminate the natural color shift that happens to all conventional and digital presses over time and is essential to attaining reliable results and profits.

Watch for Episode Three, Streaming Labels on the Screen Truepress, coming next month on Anderson&Vreeland’s Flexo Daily. And at Labelexpo in September, be sure to visit the Anderson & Vreeland booth for your own sample of both the labels and a bottle of Church Street Brewery’s Special Hell.

GMG is the worldwide leader in color management for packaging and is the packaging supply chain standard for consistent, reliable color across all printing methods.

For more information on GMG, ColorProof, ColorServer, and SmartProfiler, please visit GMG’s website at www.gmgcolor.com.

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