Graphic Arts Color Standards

The initial standards thrust in the printing and publishing industry, in the mid 1980s, was to developed standards that would allowed the exchange of electronic data files. However, as soon as the initial data exchange standards were developed, it became critical to define the meaning to the image data being exchanged. The only logical meaning that can be associated with CMYK image data is the color that data is expected to produce on the printed page. However, to define the relationship between printed color and input data requires that the inks, printing processes, measurement tools, characterization targets, and the colorimetric references all are defined and/or standardized.