-----When it’s all said and done, this is where it all gets done. The graphic arts is a symbiotic relationship between two groups; the creators and the producers. Or, as I use to put it; the dreamers and the mechanics. Still seems pretty true.
-----It is on this side of the graphics world that process controls govern the outcome. When all facets of prepress and press operations work in concert like a well-tuned orchestra, this craft called publishing delivers breath-taking results. When they don’t, it’s total disaster.

-----It all starts with science and physics. This process of controlled mayhem is based on the simple fact that grease and water don’t mix.
-----Everything conceived by the artists, designers, and photographers rides on the ability of skilled pressmen to keep precisely the right amount of ink distributed onto millions of tiny spots on a piece of metal rotating at blurring speeds within a thundering behemoth of a machine called a printing press.

Offset printing presses generally belong to two families: Sheetfed and Web.

-----Ink is transferred from rollers to cylinders and on to paper at mind- boggling speeds. If ink emulsifies slightly, or ph balances vary by the smallest degree, tons of expensive paper will be ruined. Into this cold steel ballet are thrown the destructive elements of heat, humidity, static electricity, and a myriad of other gremlins. The simple introduction of paper lint can bring the entire process to a halt.

Murphy lives in the printing industry.

-----Even before the project gets to the pressroom other specialists are doing the alchemy of converting pixels into halftone dots with the precision of a brain surgeon. The mathematics behind the science is staggering.
-----Still more amazing is the critical transfer of color images from one (conceptual/visual) color space into another (practical/physical) space. This is the conversion from RGB to CMYK.
-----And this conversion process varies depending on the press and paper on which the project will be produced. Softer papers require a different formulation than harder papers. Coated papers accept ink from the presses quite differently than uncoated (let alone newsprint) and therefore require their own CMYK conversion profiles. While presses cannot be profiled, papers can, and should be.

-----If all this sounds complicated, that’s because it is! The printing process has been a bit trivialized over the years because of a lack of appreciation for the science and intelligence it takes to make it work right.
-----Suffice to say that serious process controls, those laws and practices that keep both prepress and pressroom operations under repeatable management, MUST be established and adhered-to before any elements of color management can be passed through from the creative-production people.

Quality control is a way of life,
not a buzz-word.

-----In order to make the entire publishing process work properly there must be open communications between all contributors. -----Designers need to know what can be accomplished on press and what is beyond the press’ capabilities, and printers need to understand and adopt proven color management policies.
-----Presses cannot actually be “profiled,” as an ink jet printer can- simply because the variances in the (analog) printing process will not allow this to happen. But presses CAN and MUST be fingerprinted and maintained in order to perform in a dependable and repeatable manor.

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