Putting Color Front and Center at the G7+ Exchange

For a lucky group that managed to snag a seat, Tuesday, Sept. 22 was a great way to kick of PRINTING United Expo in Las Vegas. The G7+ Exchange was a half-day pre-show event built around improving color.

It was broken into a few distinct parts. First up was a series of presentations from color experts giving a quick look at some of the biggest challenges in color — and how to address them.

Then came the round-table discussions. Attendees broke out into small groups based on their interests, with five tables that spanned different topics for both color newbies and advanced users to choose from. Attendees did three 15-minute sessions where they could chat with both their peers and the experts about real questions and problems they have.

Finally, there was a panel discussion to round out the event, where four industry peers chatted about color, the challenges around matching color, and some of the tricks they use in their own operations to get color right.

Color Trending Now

Perhaps the biggest trend threading throughout the event is that color “problems” usually aren’t actually color problems. Rather, process, communication, and having the right profiles are more likely to be the culprit. It’s easy to blame the next person down the line when color goes wrong, but having the conversation up front to set color expectations, using the right profiles when building the files, and then having a defined process around color in production will solve the vast majority of issues before they even start.

Joe Marin, SVP, Member Services at PRINTING United Alliance, and the emcee for the Exchange ,noted at the event, “There was never really a color problem. It’s kind of a translation problem. It’s a process problem. Everyone's talking about color. Nobody's using the same way to describe it.”

Another big trend that emerged is that good color starts upstream, and isn’t just something customers are demanding, it can also help contribute to sustainability conversations. Sara Osorio, manager, EHS & Sustainability, at PRINTING United Alliance, took the stage to talk about color and sustainability. She stressed that G7+ is not a sustainability certification and shouldn’t be used that way, but it does help cut down on waste across the board, which can and should absolutely be part of the broader conversation.

“There is this misconception sometimes that sustainability is solely focused on environmental performance… In reality… there are three pillars… people, planet, profit… sustainability happens on the production floor. It should never be treated as a separate initiative, “Osorio stressed. “Reaching acceptable color faster reduces substrate waste, ink consumption, and energy usage per job… sustainability is more about looking at green practices rather than looking at green attributes.”

Finally, G7 and G7+ are the language used to bridge all of this together. It is a way to break color down into a common language, instead of trying to interpret what someone actually wants when they say “make it pop.”

The standard is actually based on photographic principles rather than the traditional print concepts. As Ron Ellis, Ron Ellis Consulting, explained, “G7 controls two things… tonality, how light or dark an image is up and down that grayscale, and the color of the gray. If we can control those two things, then we can make something usually look photographically correct.”

He continues, “G7 is based on color measurement rather than density, allowing for consistent results across different locations. This method works for any type of printing… offset press, flexo press, water bottles, HP latex… golf balls, water bottles, packaging, flexible pouches… same method across everything, and getting it to match.”

Attendees walked away from the event with a solid foundation they can build on. For those interested in learning more about G7+ certification, all the information, classes, and more can be found on the iLearning+ platform.