Every year, hundreds, if not thousands of printing companies apply for the prestigious G7 qualification but only a few prevail due to the high benchmark it requires. In fact, as of early 2013, of all the printing companies in the world, fewer than 1,000 were qualified as G7 Masters.

Chicago’s leading digital printing company, Sunrise Digital, received its G7 Master Printer Qualification in November 2012. With a wide range of product offerings from business cards to banners, variable-data direct mail to high-security event passes, trade show displays to retail store graphics, Sunrise’s new G7 certification ensures the highest level of quality and consistency for its customers.

The G7 Master Printer Certification is a qualification program that identifies printing companies that have been trained to print to G7 Neutral Print Density Curves ensuring gray balance across the tonal range. The advantage to implementing a G7 workflow guarantees the closest color match from proof to press and across different methods of printing, running the spectrum across digital to offset to large format products. Although all methods of printing (offset, digital, large format) have their own color gamuts, the effect of printing to neutral density print curves result in a visual color match of each different product to the human eye.

The most noticeable result from a G7 Master Printer is that the printed materials have a visual color consistency that’s closely matched between different processes, even if the job is done on different machines. The G7 Master Printer Qualification also indicates the printer is using modern colorimetry technology and employs G7 process controls to guarantee color quality.

G7® is both a definition of grayscale appearance, and a calibration method for adjusting any CMYK imaging device to simulate the G7 grayscale definition.

G7 yields a visual match between different imaging systems using simple 1-dimensional curves, and enables shared appearance between different printing devices or specifications when additional color management is not available.

G7 is the basis for GRACoL on #1 paper (TR006), SWOP on #3 paper (TR003), SWOP on #5 paper (TR005) and FIRST’s Flexo on white polyester substrate (TR007). G7 utilizes one of the implementation methods of the new ISO 10128 standard for near-neutral calibration.

G7 is device independent. The G7 neutral print density curve (NPDC), gray balance definitions and calibration methodology are the same for any imaging technology, regardless of substrate, colorants, screening technologies, etc.

The NPDC at the heart of the G7 grayscale definition was derived by analyzing the neutral tonality of typical ISO Standard commercial offset printing using computer-to-plate technology. 
G7 should not be confused with GRACoL7, which is the 7th edition of the GRACoL Specification

“We’re proud to receive G7 Master Printer Qualification, it’s a milestone for any printer.” says Jimmy Sun, president of Sunrise Digital. “The new workflow ensures Sunrise will continue to deliver world-class printing products for our customers.”

About Sunrise Digital 
Sunrise Digital is an Inc. 5000 company established in 1988 and employs the most advanced equipment and technology, such as G7-certified HP Indigo and UV flatbed presses, laser engraving, and digital die-cutting, to create best-in-class color printing, short-run packaging, P.O.P. retail displays, and signage products. A privately-owned enterprise, the company is based in Chicago and sells products worldwide.