Give ColorSync a Chance

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If you’ve had enough of Harry Potter and want a little more scintillating reading, check out Apple’s ColorSync listserver. Accessible through the ColorSync page of Apple’s Web site, the listserver contains tons of helpful information about implementing ColorSync workflows, as well as heated debates among color scientists and prepress users on everything from the future of color management to conspiracy theories that the technology is a scam. Peruse the archives and you’ll see what I mean:
" ‘What You See Is What You Get’ is a desirable goal. ‘What You Get Is What You Want’ is an even better one. Unfortunately, most forms of color management don’t help in attaining it."
"Q. Does the paint work?
"A. No, I poured it onto the wall and it didn’t spread itself evenly. It’s obviously defective.
"Q. Does the TV work?
"A. No. This technology is flawed. I shouldn’t have to plug the TV into the wall in order to make it work.
"Color management isn’t as simple as either of these items so there will be a high learning curve. Flying airplanes is significantly more involved and you DO hear people in training who say, ‘I don’t get it! This is impossible! It’s too difficult!’ Flying is not a failed technology even though near-certain maiming was involved early in its history."
"I have stated unambiguously in everything I’ve ever written on the subject that I *favor* inclusion of the ICC engine in Photoshop and most other related software. What I would like to chuck is the UI that makes it extremely likely that an uneducated user will either convert a file by mistake or else embed the wrong profile in it, if not both."
And my personal favorite: "I’m getting this creeping feeling that it is all being cleverly masterminded as a self-perpetuating publicity vehicle. <G>"
Too Clever?
I can’t speak to the last, but I do appreciate the sentiment. In fact, being excessively cynical myself, you might think that I’d be on the conservative side of the color management debate. After all, nearly a decade after ColorSync was first released, it’s still not widely adopted. In a climate where cutting-edge technology is either acquired by Microsoft or falls between the circuits, ICC-based color management is in a peculiar technological purgatory: Apple has revved ColorSync up to version 3.0, and Adobe and other vendors have incorporated support for it in their applications, but only about 25 percent of media producers use it (from ColorSync Payback, halfway down the right column).
After all this time the technology’s complexity still holds it back. Graphic designers and digital photographers and publishers understand color reproduction to varying degrees, but most aren’t color scientists and don’t want to be. Characterizing vs. calibrating? Colorimeter vs. spectrophotometer? Tristimulus vs. chromaticity? This is what we pay prepress providers and printers to deal with.
Then there’s cost. One ColorSync listserver contributor shared the following estimate: A 25-seat publishing house with 40 users wants to adopt color management so it can generate accurate and consistent print proofs from any computer, and accurately soft-proof on all 25 monitors. Just to upgrade the hardware and install the software would cost $81,000. Then add in $55,000/year for a full-time, in-house color expert to manage the whole shebang and you’ve just sunk almost $200,000 into the technology for seemingly minor payback – savings on consumables because of fewer proofing cycles, fewer remakes, and faster turnarounds.
I’m not going to be overly dramatic and argue that failure to adopt color-managed workflows will lead publishers down the path of typesetters, into obscurity and obsolescence. After all, color management doesn’t fundamentally change how content is digitally published; it only makes the publishing process more efficient. But it does make publishing more efficient. The savings from reduced proofing cycles and fewer remakes, not to mention the improved productivity and more satisfied clients, add up: According to Gistics, a research firm in Larkspur, California, ROI (return on investment) on a ColorSync workflow can range from 4.5 to 23 times per year, depending on the degree and type of deployment.
And vendors are busily working away to make the technology more transparent and user friendly. Just look at Adobe Illustrator 9.0. Adobe is busy hyping all of Illustrator’s new Web-related features and jazzy new effects, but the upgrade also features streamlined color management settings that will become standard in all future Adobe product releases, among other color management improvements.
Not if, But When
From where I sit, it’s really not a question of whether to implement color management, it’s when and how to do so. If you’re intrepid, go ahead and call in a consultant to set up custom-profiled scanners and proofers and hooded calibrated monitors; customize Adobe Photoshop’s RGB working space and profile setups; and realize the ultimate in economic benefits despite the headaches and jaw-grinding it may induce. Or ramp up slowly, calibrating your monitor with Apple’s free Monitor Calibration Assistant, investing in Adobe PressReady, and seeing what benefits a smaller investment yields.
While you’re experimenting, rest assured that your efforts won’t be in vain. ICC-based color management isn’t going anywhere, and it’s only going to get easier to use. One day you’ll tell your daughter, whose taken over your design or prepress business, "You know, you’ve got it easy. Back in the old days, we used to have to choose our color management module and rendering intent."
Anita Dennis is a freelance writer and editor who has covered electronic publishing, including Web design and digital printing and prepress, since 1993. Her work has appeared in numerous industry magazines, including Publish, i/o, Red Herring, and Seybold Reports, and she is the co-author of Web Design Essentials (Adobe Press, 2000). Other clients include Adobe Systems, Oracle, OTA-Off The Record Research, and TrendWatch.
Read more of her work here
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  • anonymous says:

    I used ColorSync for years before switching to Windows. ICC works great from my perspective. I get good solid predictable results everytime. ColorSync is simply another Apple propaganda technology…tis empty. Forget about Apple, they are Propaganda artists through and through. All you need to do is review your NEW Mac purchase six months down the road and you will see a huge value drop with nowhere for you to go…except to purchase a new Mac. This is how Apple wants it. Apple is a SHAM machine as far as I am concerned. ColorSync is simply par for the Apple course. You don’t NEED it!

  • anonymous says:

    I don’t have an opinion on the article! I do find the kerning on the text a bit too tight. I’m using Netscape 4.7. Enjoyed last article on visit to students. But, that’s where I discovered text is really tough to read. Enjoy the site when I visit. Great stuff.

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