It’s a measure of just how hot a topic colour is at the moment that when the BPIF held its second annual colour conference in September, people had to be turned away because there was no space for them at the venue.
　　The current interest in colour is the move to implement the ISO 12647 specification for colour printing, which is also sometimes called Process Standard Offset (PSO). It’s not a new specification. It came into being in 1996 and was revised in 2004. A further revision to take account of the market’s feedback and the advances in technology, methodology and process control is expected any day now.
　　“It’s into the mainstream now,” says Aaron Archer, Pureprint group technical manager and member of the BPIF Technical Standards Committee, who prepared the BPIF Colour Toolkit, A guide to colour management and standardisation.
　　Archer implemented the standard within Pureprint’s companies, including Beacon Press two years ago and, before that, at his previous employer Butler & Tanner. While they are large specialist operations with a reputation for delivering top-notch colour quality, he reports that the use of controlled colour is becoming commonplace now, citing a recent visit to an average B2 printer, which has taken on board colour control.
　　Why is there currently such a clamour for knowledge on colour, when previously the intricacies of its control were left to a few experts and especially interested printers who could happily discuss delta E and Lab values with impunity?
　　“The nub of the problem is reducing cost through less waste and more saleable product,” says Paul Sherfield of the Missing Horse Consultancy, who is one of the colour specialists being kept busy at the moment by the interest in controlling colour. Sherfield undertook his first implementation of ISO 12647 for auction house Bonhams and its roster of four printers back in 2001.
　　According to Pureprint’s Archer, cost isn’t the only issue. It’s also about being able to win and retain work. Print managers are increasingly demanding it of their printers as a way to ensure a consistent quality product to their clients regardless of where it is printed. Williams Lea led the way, but others are adopting it as part of their printer selection processes.
　　And it’s not just print managers. Discerning corporates are seeing it as a way of ensuring their brand colours are more accurately reproduced. Archer defines the benefits for Pureprint as being shorter m

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