Graduated G7 certification levels aimed at ensuring that printers provide the color management proficiency print buyers require.

Alexandria, Va. – Idealliance, the global non-profit for the Visual Communications and Media Industry, with offices around the world, is building upon the G7® Master program that qualifies printing facilities according to three increasingly stringent tiered levels of G7 Master proficiency audits: G7 Grayscale (fundamental), G7 Targeted (intermediate), and G7 Colorspace (advanced).

A facility can be granted G7 Master Qualification by achieving compliance with the specific requirements of one or more evaluation levels. Idealliance is the world’s largest certifying body and the Idealliance G7® Master Facility Qualification is the most sought after and widely known qualification for process control and color management in the world.

“The Idealliance G7 Master program is the world’s leading print facility validation program. These new levels will assure customers that their print service providers have the color printing and proofing proficiency they desire, further aligning the supply chain,” says Tim Baechle, Idealliance Vice President, Global Print Technologies & Workflows. “Without such tiers, print buyers may not know whether a printer has achieved the appropriate G7 level they need for a particular job or a particular process.”

A G7 Master qualification is valid for one calendar year and must be renewed annually. The three tiers demonstrate G7 Master capabilities according to three levels of complexity:

• G7 Grayscale is the fundamental level of G7. A target print is printed on a stable printing system and measurements of that target are used to correct the ink curves to bring the printing system into alignment with the G7 ideal neutral density curve. Aligning various printing methods in a plant to this same neutral aim point is a tremendous step forward in getting disparate printers to match. While achieving this G7 level will naturally help all the colors to be consistent, the only thing required at this level is for K and CMY neutrals to be aligned to the G7 tone curve and CMY neutrals gray balanced.
• G7 Targeted is the next level, in which G7 Grayscale is achieved and the solid ink measurements for primaries and secondaries (CMY and RGB) and substrate color are also within spec to one of the G7-based targeted color spaces. This can be realized according to the absolute white point or using substrate-relative condition. G7 Targeted achievement lets customers know that not only can a facility hit G7 Grayscale, but it can also achieve a higher level of compliance and their strongest colors can hit, for example, the specific LAB values for GRACoL 2013.
• G7 Colorspace is the most stringent level of G7 compliance. It includes all the requirements of the G7 Targeted and Grayscale levels and adds matching to an entire Reference Print Condition. This level demonstrates that a facility is maintaining extremely tight tolerances throughout the whole color space and assures that the printing system can consistently reproduce the entire color space and not just the primaries and secondaries (CMY and RGB). G7 Colorspace level is further divided into two separate purposes, Printing or Proofing, with slightly more stringent requirements (tolerances) for proofing.

“The new tiered qualifications will enable Idealliance to ensure the integrity of its certifications and the trust customers can put in them for quality assurance,” says David Steinhardt, Idealliance President & Chief Executive Officer. “Idealliance will monitor company compliance with and use of its G7 qualifications and encourage any companies misstating their level of proficiency to either become qualified in additional tiers or cease using a G7 designation altogether. It is essential that print buyers can be absolutely certain that anyone using the G7 Master designation has achieved the appropriate proficiency and qualification level.”

G7 is the only methodology and print validation program in the world that crosses all print processes: offset, flexo, gravure, screen, wide format/grand format, digital (EP, LEP & Inkjet), industrial inkjet, dye-sublimation, and textile. For more information on the G7 Master Program, click here or contact Jordan Gorski at [email protected] or (703) 837-1096.