I recently spoke with a large manufacturer of acoustical tiles who shared his struggle in finding a local vendor to print on his tiles. While he used some nearby shops that had the capacity for his orders, tiles would occasionally be damaged during installation, and when he received replacements, the colors didn’t match. He needed to find a shop that could print at his desired capacity while managing color consistency.
Many shops don’t even realize how lack of color consistency can often send a customer looking elsewhere. Sadly, these shops will look to place blame on others for the downturn in work when they should be looking at their own operations. Shops should be investing in training, and in a process that will allow them to continually meet (and eventually exceed) customer requirements.
SGIA’s Color Management Certification Program does just that. Our Color Management Boot Camp teaches color theory, how to determine and select the right input target, hands-on profiling, spot color matching and verification. Industry experts deliver this need-to-know content and are available to assist students after the training to address any lingering questions.
Following completion of the course, students can take an online assessment and color manage their system using the techniques they learned during the boot camp to become SGIA Certified Digital Color Professionals. Students will be tasked with printing our unique color form, which will be graded on neutral gray, process color, RGB colors, spot colors and spot color tone values.
If they are successful, they will become SGIA Certified Digital Color Professionals. They receive a digital badge which tells the world they understand color and how to achieve consistent, predictable and repeatable prints. It will show manufacturers (like the one above) who they can rely on to deliver a color correct print job today, next month and next year.
Do you care about color management certification? You should!