Event highlights consistency, flexibility in color management for commercial printing

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Kodak announced today its support and participation in the first International Color Consortium (ICC) Color Symposium in Hong Kong on Nov. 13, 2013 at the VTC Auditorium, Hong Kong Design Institute. In the graphic arts supply chain, effective use of color management can help printers and designers tackle color inconsistency and color communication problems. Organized jointly by the Hong Kong Printers Association and the ICC, the worldwide authoritative body in setting color industry standards, the event features renowned global experts who will share the latest trends in color management. As a founding member of the ICC, Kodak played an instrumental role in supporting and organizing the symposium.

“The printing market overall is changing and becoming more competitive, so it is more important than ever to understand how to best manage color across distributed operations, both to manage cost and deliver a consistent solution to print providers, regardless of the materials or technology used for the job,” said William Li, Co-chair of the International Color Consortium (ICC) and a Kodak Color Technology Manager. 

Li will kick off the ICC Color Symposium with an overview of what the ICC is, why it exists and what it hopes to do for the industry. He will also participate in a forum on color workflow setup and why and how workflow affects hybrid printing (digital & offset) and cross-media workflows. The forum will be moderated by Brian Lawler, Associate Professor, Graphic Communication, California Polytechnic State University.

The quality control best practices for color management result in a more predictable printed product, so that print providers are delivering what the customer expects with fewer surprises that could lead to extra cost. Whether it’s hybrid printing, split-run printing, or even cross-media publication, color management can help bridge the gap between the different means of delivering content to consumers.

“By industrializing color more consistently, you free up people to take a more creative approach to producing color,” said Li. “Ideally the approach becomes similar to driving, where someone can get into a car and, regardless of that car’s make, model or style, that person should be able to maneuver it fairly easily. That consistency is what we want to bring to color management in printing—enabling printers to work on any stage of the color process with little user ramp-up time.”

KODAK COLORFLOW Software brings this consistency and flexibility to color management, allowing users to optimize and simplify the production of color in a tightly integrated way with the KODAK PRINERGY Workflow System.

The ICC Color Symposium is funded by the SME Development Fund of the Trade and Industry Department, the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. To register for the event or for more details about the schedule, visit International Color Consortium (ICC) Color Symposium in Hong Kong.