Ink coverage in printing refers to the amount of ink applied to a printed surface. It is also referred to as ink coverage or ink density. The ink application is an important parameter in the printing process as it influences the intensity and saturation of the colours.
A high ink application can lead to more intense colours and a higher saturation, but also to longer drying times and possibly to problems such as the ink bleeding through the paper. A low ink application, on the other hand, can lead to pale or washed-out colours.
The ink coverage is usually given as a percentage and indicates what percentage of the print area is covered with ink. An ink coverage of 100% means that the entire surface is completely covered with ink, while an ink coverage of 0% means that no ink is applied and the surface remains empty. ISOCoatedV2 has a maximum ink coverage of 330%, ISOCoatedV2 300% – as the name suggests – has a reduced ink coverage of only 300%. The successor standard PSOCoatedV3 was only created and published in a version with a maximum ink coverage of 300%.
There are several reasons why the maximum colour application is limited to 300% with PSOCoatedV3. Here are some of the main reasons:
A high ink application can lead to problems such as overprinting, wet printing behaviour, ink smearing and longer drying times. These problems can impair the print quality or cause the motif to be transferred to the opposite side during folding. In some cases, the folding machines are so smeared and dirty after folding a print that is still too ‘wet’ that they first have to be cleaned at great expense. By limiting the ink application to 300%, these potential problems are minimised.
However, environmental and cost aspects also play a role: a high ink application means a greater amount of ink or printing ink being applied, which can lead to higher ink consumption and potentially to environmental impacts. By limiting the amount of ink applied, a certain saving in ink consumption is achieved, which in turn contributes to a more environmentally friendly printing process.
Today, the ink coverage is often subsequently reduced from 300% to even lower values using so-called ‘ink savers’. So if you deliver a file with 300% ink coverage to a print shop, you cannot be sure that you will receive a print with 300% ink coverage.
Several errors have crept into the new PANTONE 2023 fan decks. In both the PANTONE Solid Coated and the Solid Uncoated color fans, there are colours for which the new ink formulations are incorrect. In the PANTONE Formula Guide Solid Coated fan 2023, PANTONE 107 C and PANTONE 108 C have absolutely identical ink recipes, as well as PANTONE 113 C and PANTONE 114 C. As the colors differ, this cannot be the correct. Several errors in the PANTONE Solid Uncoated fan 2023 In the PANTONE Solid Uncoated fan 2023 … read more
Shortly after Adobe’s announcement to remove PANTONE colours from their products, PANTONE removed the popular PANTONE Find a Color from their website
Peter Jäger is an expert in colour management that reliably works across the boundaries of printers and monitors, web and print – essentially: cross-media.
Offset and Newsprint ISO Coated v2 (ECI) / ISO Coated v2 300% (ECI) Profile: ISOcoated_v2_eci.icc Standard for glossy and matte coated paper Paper: Types 1 and 2, gloss and matte coated Tone value increase curves A (CMY) and B (K) as defined in ISO 12647-2:2004 Characterisation Data: FOGRA39L ISOUncoated Profile: ISOUncoated.icc Standard for uncoated white natural paper Paper: paper grade 4, uncoated white offset, dot gain curves C (CMY) and D (K) from ISO 12647-2: 2004 Characterisation Data: FOGRA29L PSOCoatedV3 / Fogra 51 Profile: PSOcoated_v3.icc The successor of ISOCoatedV2 for glossy … read more
In the current issue of Fogra News “Fogra Aktuell” Proof GmbH is involved in two places. Firstly, a summary of the Fogra report on our first FOGRA55 certification for seven-colour printing with extended colour space in CMYKOGV appeared. You can also find more information on our FOGRA55 certification on the Fogra website: https://fogra.org/en/press-releases/fogracert-erste-cpc-zertifizierung-fuer-fogra55-cmykogv-330 and on proofing.de: And secondly, there was a report on the completion of the research project for textile digital printing, FOGRA58, in which we were allowed to investigate and test the proof capability of the new textile … read more
Digimarc is a digital watermark that can be used to embed information in images, videos or other media. Digimarc watermarks are invisible to the human eye, but remain recognisable to special software or devices. Digimarc is becoming increasingly popular in the packaging sector in particular, as this technology allows the digits of the EAN barcode and more to be applied invisibly to all areas of the packaging. Digimarc and EAN barcode at the supermarket checkout When scanning at the checkout, the checkout staff do not have to search for the … read more
In this short image video we – the Proof GmbH – introduce us and our work. Find out who we are and what drives us. What do you think of our short film?
After Eddy Hagen pointed out in this posts, that there were some major colour deviations between the brand new PANTONE Solid Coated Guide 2023 and the previous version especially for the PANTONE 2635 C, I was curious to lookup the same colours in the new PANTONE Color Bridge Coated Guide of 2023 and compare the colours with the previous version. I measured a dE00 of 8,15 between the two colours that Eddy mentioned, which is really far apart from how accurate PANTONE colours should match between the different PANTONE guides. … read more
In 2021 proof.de was again Fogra certified including Fogra “Spot cert” certification, i.e. for the display of spot colours such as PANTONE C and U.
RGB colour spaces are colour systems that represent different hues with the three primary colours red, green and blue. RGB colour spaces are used in digital image processing, photography and computer technology to precisely define colours. The most important RGB colour spaces and their special features are: sRGB sRGB is the most widely used RGB colour space and is used by most monitors, printers and digital cameras. It was developed by HP and Microsoft in the 1990s to create a standard for colour representation on the internet and on various … read more