PRINTING United Alliance’s iLEARNING+ has released the new Expanded Color Gamut (ECG) Printing course. The course covers an introduction to ECG, traditional ECG print in flexo, offset, gravure, as well as ECG digital print workflows, quality control, and how you can get started with ECG. This intermediate course led by Ron Ellis, consultant and chair of the Print Properties Committee, G7 and G7+ trainer, and brand and color expert, provides a first-hand look at ECG, its use versus traditional 4-color print workflows, and how to translate ECG into your print production.
As N-color workspaces become more prevalent, 7-color ECG has quickly become the leading standard approach for printing beyond 4-color CMYK.
While ECG introduces added complexity, the returns far surpass this with the need to print beyond standard commercial print targets like GRACoL. With easy-to-integrate processes in digital print workflows, the ability to achieve a wider gamut of spot colors, and driving quality higher as brands and print buyers strive for more impact with their products and media in print is now possible.
ECG’s use in traditional print continues to grow as the ability to match spot colors that traditionally require separate ink channels and print units drives further efficiency to gang multiple jobs on a press, requiring less downtime, makeready, and setup on press, as well as an improved visual appearance.
The course also covers standardized approaches with ECG including a brief introduction of ISO ISO/TS 21328, the Idealliance ECG project driving a beta dataset, the standardized Idealliance ECG 7-color test chart, and other ECG print conditions.
Although, challenges still exist in certain areas of ECG workflows, including: separating files to ECG, proprietary approaches in existing workflows, drivers, hardware in proof and print applications, and maintaining ECG process control in print, which this course covers as well.
Access the new Expanded Color Gamut Printing Online Course at iLEARNING+ here.
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Stay tuned for more on ECG, supported by PRINTING United Alliance through the work of the Print Properties Committee, to drive a standardized approach for 7-color print.