Alexandria, VA, April 22, 2008.  IDEAlliance today announced that it is launching a new event focusing on its G7 Proof-to-Press Specification.  The summit will highlight technical refinements to G7 and feature G7 case studies.  The first G7 Calibration Tolerances Report Card will be presented along with awards to outstanding G7 Printers and G7 Experts. The IDEAlliance G7 Summit will be held Monday, September 15, 2008 in New Orleans, LA.

Background

Throughout 2004 and 2005, the GRACoL (General Requirements and Applications for Commercial Offset Lithography) Committee of IDEAlliance conducted a series of research press runs and developed a new set of process controls based on principles of digital imaging, spectrophotometry, and computer-to-plate (CtP) technologies.  In April 2006, GRACoL made its beta characterization dataset for printing on a #1 coated sheet available and began certifying leading industry color management consultants as"G7 Experts".  Since that time, G7 Experts have been certified throughout North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.  To advance the use of G7 calibration techniques, these consultants have trained and qualified nearly 200 printers and proof providers, world wide, as G7 Masters.  The listing of G7 Experts can be found at www.gracol.org/experts and the listing of G7 Masters is atwww.idealliance.org/g7masters/.

Launching a G7 Summit

According to Dianne Kennedy, Vice President of Publishing Technologies and IDEAlliance GRACoL Program Director, "Certification of our team of G7 Experts was a key milestone for IDEAlliance.  We were selective in admissions to this program and at this point feel that we have built a team of highly qualified color management specialists to advocate the adoption of G7 across the graphic arts industry worldwide.  We are now experiencing a spike in G7 adoption driven by brand owners who seek to secure the fidelity of brand imaging across all types of printing whether it be advertising in a magazine, high-end commercial advertising or even packaging and billboards and signs.  Launching a G7 Summit is an opportunity for IDEAlliance to bring together the network of those embracing G7 to meet with their peers, learn the latest techniques, and provide input to the Association so we can set a technical agenda for the coming year.  IDEAlliance, the source of all that is G7, is in the unique position to host this event and will provide new technical content that will be available for the first time during the summit."

The G7 Summit Program

The G7 Summit will be co-chaired by Glen Andrews, Schawk Worldwide, Los Angeles and Michael Eddington, North American Color, Inc.  Don Hutcheson, Hutchcolor LLC, former chairman of the GRACoL Committee and the acknowledged inventor of G7 will open the summit with a Keynote presentation.  The morning sessions will focus on G7 case studies.  The afternoon will begin with the presentation of the G7 Calibration Tolerances Report Card.  This industry report card will outline the 2008 real-world tolerances that are being achieved following G7 calibration. The data for this report was gathered from submissions from IDEAlink Curve software for an 18 month period.  The data will be categorized by printing and proofing as the achievable tolerances are different depending on the output device.  This report will be made available to all attendees and to any interested IDEAlliance member.  The afternoon program will focus on technical topics such as G7 techniques beyond sheetfed offset, G7 inks and the impact of optical brightners on the G7 process.  In addition to a display of a gallery of G7 printing, IDEAlliance will be making industry G7 awards to G7 Masters and G7 Experts. See www.g7summit.org for more information.

To be Co-located with Extreme Color Management and Spectrum360

Although the inaugural G7 Summit will be a single day, it will be co-located with three other events that IDEAlliance believes will be of interest to those attending the summit.  Beginning Sunday, September 14, IDEAlliance will be holding a G7 Experts Re-Certification training program.  The G7 Summit follows on Monday, September 15.

On Tuesday, September 16, Extreme Color Management will be launched and will run through Wednesday.  Extreme Color Management is developed and presented by the Color Management Group.  According to Lida Jalali Marschke, Executive Director of the Color Management Group, "Our new conference is designed to address advanced color management topics that are not currently available at other color management venues.  New color management tools and new tool capabilities will be highlighted to help color management specialists remain on the leading edge of technology.  A town hall meeting where leading color management "geeks" can engage in open discussions is designed to help drive the agenda for the color management research projects of our Partner, IDEAlliance, for the upcoming year.

The new IDEAlliance Spectrum360 Conference will run September 17-18.  Spectrum360 is a recasting of the IDEAlliance Spectrum Conference, now in its 33rd year. This year Spectrum360 will provide interactive townhall sessions, focused content designed to provide a broad view and applications of technology and trends; technical content focused on cross-media solutions and a focus on green initiatives.

David Steinhardt, President & CEO, IDEAlliance commented, "With today's new marketplace, emerging technologies and the changing face of the media supply chain, Spectrum must keep ahead of the curve.  In 2008 the IDEAlliance Spectrum Conference becomes Spectrum360 to explore current and emerging technologies and best practices in the media supply chain – creation, production, and distribution across all segments of print, publishing, and cross-media."

Giving Back –Help to Rebuild New Orleans with Habitat for Humanity

On September 19, IDEAlliance is organizing a volunteer brigade to help with rebuilding the 9th Ward of New Orleans that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.  Join us for the day-long event – and feel great giving back to a community that really needs help.  This is an important reflection of our membership's knowledge and empathy in helping find real solutions to real problems for people in need of help… both within and outside of our industry.