Why should I want ISO compliance?

When we talk about ISO we are talking about a family or collection of standards. Standards of all sorts provide order, consistency and easier communication of requirements. Imagine for a moment if someone came up with the idea of creating a new power plug. This one had the 3 pins aligned in a vertical row and was much slimmer and therefore allowed for more plugs on a power board than the current design. Of course it is doomed for failure no matter how practical it may seem as no power sockets are going to be able to fit it. This is why there is a standard for power sockets and plugs and they are all made the same for reasons of compatibility.

The same thing applies to colour and printing. If a designer decided that the current coated offset CMYK standard was too restrictive and hampered their creative freedom, they could come up with their own CMYK colour space based on for example their own wide gamut inkjet printer. They could then create all their files from that point in this new custom CMYK colour space. If they printed all their own files in-house this could in all reality be achieved without issue. However the problems arise the moment the file goes outside their own site. If the file was sent to a press house then this file which was created for a particular colourspace would end up being printed in another, namely their press. If the press house was aware of this issue then they could and I stress the word could, convert the file to another profile (colourspace).

I say could because converting CMYK files has its own problems. Mainly, it can change the Black channel into a 4 channel rich black instead of the previously single Black channel unless special device link profiles are used. This then introduces text registration issues on press. Putting that aside, what would they convert it to? They could create a profile for their own wide gamut inkjet printer but unless they intended to print the job on that device it serves no purpose and continues the file colour mismatch problems. The most sensible thing would seem to be to convert it to their press colourspace but it would have to be the press they intended to print the job on. They have 3 presses and as was common before printing standards, they all print differently. The problems and complication just goes on and gets progressively worse.

Now consider print standards. The designer creates the file in a known colourspace such as ISO Coated v2 (or as is becoming increasingly popular, converts to it from an RGB master file). The press house proofs it on their inkjet proofer to the same standard, producing a verified proof, then plates it and sends it to press which is running coated media and set up to be compliant to the ISO coated spec. The result is a finished print as the designer intended, matching the proof and therefore the customers expectations.

There was none of the usual chasing colour at make-ready and the job was setup and run much more efficiently with properly measured and created curves that delivered correct colour and proper gray balance. Properly implemented ISO compliance means greater efficiency, less time on press, correct colour and matching to proof, eliminates disputes on colour issues with clients and therefore less redos or discounted jobs. It also eliminates internal disputes as well, such as between the press room and prepress and the age old argument of which is right the print or the proof. ISO compliance done correctly should be viewed as an investment not an expense. Put simply it will quickly pay for itself, it WILL save time and money.