Esko (www.esko.com/drupa) is launching Color Engine 12, a module within Esko's Suite 12. Esko presents Color Engine 12 on stand A23, hall 8b.

Research by the Pantone Color Institute shows that color increases brand recognition by 80%. And because it evokes immediate and strong physiological and psychological bonds, color is key to brand identity. Consumers recognize a familiar brand color within seconds. Both consciously and subconsciously, accurate color is key to quality perceptions.

“When was the last time you actually stopped to read the packaging of a product in the supermarket?” asks Jan de Roeck, Esko’s Director Solutions Management. “Color plays a vital role in consumer purchasing choices. Clearly recognizable branding – and accurate color associated with that branding – helps shoppers make purchasing decisions. As brand owners create more versioned products to increase their market share, colors are even more important as key differentiators at the shelf. This is why consistent and accurate brand color reproduction on packaging and labels is one of the top five requirements for brand owners. With Color Engine 12, Esko provides packaging and label professionals an integrated solution for accurate color reproduction.”

First-time-every-time color consistency
Color Engine 12 is the leading choice for packaging and labels manufacturers and these are the reasons:

• Color Engine builds on spectral data to define ink profiles. Spectral color data is for brand colors what DNA is for humans: a unique means to identify a color, independent of printing press or proofing device capabilities. Based on an ink’s spectral definition, Color Engine predicts the behavior of the ink and simulates the printed result on a digital inkjet proof.

Color Engine effectively manages spot colors, ensuring that brand owners have perfect color representation – first time, every time. With unique and patented technology, Color Engine calculates what a spot ink will look like when printed on top of another one, or printed on

• certain paper or board stock, or viewed under different lighting conditions without having to fingerprint all possible combinations. This guarantees accurate and achievable color expectations at a minimum effort and cost.
• Color Engine creates and manages multi-ink profiles, crucial for color accurate extended gamut printing and digital printing. Extended gamut printing with a fixed set of inks on the printing press has the potential to bring considerable savings to each stakeholder in the print value chain. It's an effective means to reduce cost and waste in the entire supply chain. Equinox, a unique color technology for extended gamut printing, manages and applies multi-ink profiles. With Equinox, prepress operators automate the process of re-separating their jobs to the destination multi-ink profile. With the Equinox Adobe Photoshop plug-in, users manipulate images to make full use of the available color gamut. Digital printing presses are operating by definition in an extended color gamut. In a hybrid printing environment, it's crucial to manage color so the result always matches the expectation, regardless of the printing process.
• End-to-end accurate color – from design and prepress to print production – fully integrated in the print production workflow. Color Engine is fully integrated in the Suite 12 workflow. Easy to learn and easy to use color features provide operator interaction from within all of the editors – ArtPro, PackEdge and DeskPack. Color Strategies bundle all color settings for usage in an Automation Engine 12 workflow ticket. Proofing devices are fully integrated in the workflow, including an interface to GMG Proofing solutions.

Color Engine 12 provides color consistency and accuracy and ensures realistic spot color reproduction. By facilitating worldwide digital communication of accurate color throughout the packaging supply chain, Esko helps brand owners to push products with effective shelf appeal to market faster at the lowest possible cost and with minimum risk. “Effective color management also results in cost savings throughout the value chain,” adds De Roeck. “Getting color right the first time and simplifying the color management process cuts down the costs.”

Color Engine 12 supports PantoneLIVE
Color Engine 12 is the first professional color management solution to integrate PantoneLIVE for realistic and achievable spot colors. As part of its ongoing partnership with X-Rite Pantone, the global leader in color science and technology, Esko is the first supplier in the industry to bring to market a color management solution that addresses the entire packaging supply chain.

PantoneLIVE, now integrated with Esko Color Engine 12, is a cloud-based solution that ensures first-time-every-time color integrity.

In combination with PantoneLIVE, Color Engine Pilot, a component of Color Engine 12, provides the perfect tool set for creating and maintaining critical brand colors, creation of spot color profiles and other color conversion settings. Color Engine 12 maintains consistency throughout the production environment by ensuring that every application and operator works with the same critical color data.

Ease of use equals added value
What makes the Esko Color Engine 12 so valuable is its ease of implementation throughout the production process, from concept to print, and its ability to improve color communication. “Color Engine 12 is a state-of-the-art solution that ensures brand color expectations are met by printers and converters,” concludes De Roeck. ”By deploying Color Engine 12 with PantoneLIVE integration, all players refer to the same color expectation from the beginning of the process. They can be confident their color goals will be met.”