Managing Color from Design to Print

Managing color on printing projects has long been a difficult task. Prior to the digital age press proofing was probably the best way to not necessarily ensure that the colors from your project were correct, according to your original design, but that the colors being produced on press were at least acceptable to your project's goals. Now with the digital age firmly implanted within every project, designers are facing problems from a multitude of sources related to color management.

Communicating accurate color with PC monitors is a nightmare. Even with proper calibration sharing these files requires that everyone along the chain agrees on calibration. Proofing today can also be a haphazard event depending on various toners, equipment and substrates used for proofing. At the end of the day you only want to understand what color will appear after the press run.

Pantone or PMS colors offer one solution. Only about 42% of Pantone colors can be reproduced with CMYK. Pantone does offer a variety of tools for color management. However, I think the problem can only be addressed by a variety of methods, each addressing specific issues. Taking control of color management is an important role of every designer.

U.S.A. Paper Weights...Why?

Back onto one of my favorite subjects again, paper measure in the U.S.A. Two major influences have caused our country to have the most complicated and convoluted paper measurement system in the world.

The King has Ten Toes

First I blame our friends across the water, the English, for creating the intolerably complicated imperial measure system and then imposing it upon us. Yards, stones, quarts, feet for goodness sakes, it's all too ridiculous once you become aware of the simplicity that most of the modern world enjoys with the metric system. Couldn't these folks count? With the exception of Henry VIII I believe they could see their fingers and toes and therefore had the tools to figure out the metric system. Thank God we threw them out of the US before the automobile was invented or we'd all be driving on the wrong side of the road.

Washington Know How

Of course we do have ourselves to blame for accepting imperial measure. We have never taken the initiative to throw this system out with the trash. I remember a push in the 70's to "go metric" and then, somehow, it just faded away into the far off distance with the idea of decent gas mileage and alternatives to oil. To make matters worse, in the 1800's, the U.S. federal government took imperial measure and applied it to paper measure, with a demented twist.

For heavens sake, the system is so complex that it is as though two government bureaucrats were chatting one night, over a grog, and one suggested that we might make things easier and streamline the U.S. systems of measurement to the horror of the other bureaucrat. Who replied, "Stop man! You must be insane. We'll make a system so confusing and filled with exceptions that no one will be able to use it without our help or the help of published guides and rules. Here's an idea, how about we make a system where we call this light weight paper 80 lb and then we call this heavy paper 80 lb as well?" The devilish deed was completed. I can only hope that this scenario is somewhat close to how U.S. paper measure was concocted, the alternative that someone somehow thought this was a good idea is just too alarming to consider.

I try to bring some clarity to the system in my article Paper Weights Demystified... I hope you find this soothing.

Neenah Paper Announces Plans for Acquired Brands

Last week Neenah Paper made some initial announcements about the future of the brands they have acquired in the Fox River Paper / Gilbert Paper acquisition. Neenah Paper is moving quickly to inform the markets of its decisions regarding brands to minimize the anxiety and questions surrounding this subject.

Here's the gist of the news

Writing Papers

Neenah intends to continue and fully support with promotional materials; Neutech, Fox River Select, Capitol Bond and Gilbert Cottons.

Neenah will offer for the foreseeable future without promotional materials; Fox River Bond, Correspond, Chadwick Cotton and Gilcrest.

Translucent Papers

Neenah intends to consolidate the four brands of translucent now in the combined companies. The brands are; UV Ultra II, UV web, GilClear and Clearfold. No further announcement of brand names has been made as of this date. The strategy is to consolidate into a premium brand and an economy brand.

Text and Cover

Neenah intends to continue and fully support with promotional materials; Starwhite, Coronado, Sundance, ESSE, Oxford and Howard Linen.

Specialty Brands

Neenah is contemplating how to position and how to move forward with; Crushed Leaf, Valley Forge, Parchment, Voice, EverGreen, Gainsborough and Teton. They state they will "extract the strengths moving forward" from these brands and position them appropriately.

Brands to be discontinued

Neenah plans to stop producing Realm and Confetti.

Neenah promises to make its intentions known to the market and pledges to announce further changes 3 to 6 months into the future informing the marketplace of substantive changes.