Proofing By the Numbers

The project was a collaboration between Dunwoody, Latran Technologies, and the Flexographic Trade Association (FTA). Rivard was challenged with unofficially certifying the Latran Prediction digital halftone proofer for accuracy under F.I.R.S.T. specifications.

The Dunwoody team began by choosing the stocks and inks they would test. They set their press to the "sweet spot" for gray balance, solid ink densities, and hue saturation running an IT.8 control target and adhering to F.I.R.S.T. tolerances and guidelines. Using X-Rite and Gretag automated spectrophotometers, Rivard read the press sheets into Heidelberg CM software. The data from the readings was used to create an ICC profile—a computer file that describes the 3-dimensional color map of a given color output.