A media wedge is a standardised test pattern used in the printing industry and in colour management. The media wedge consists of a series of colour patches with known colour values and colour intensities. It is used to check the colour accuracy and colour reproduction of prints, especially when calibrating colour management systems.
The media wedge contains a series of colour patches with different colours, including the primary colours (cyan, magenta, yellow) as well as black and greyscale patches. With modern, RGB-based printing standards such as FOGRA58 Textile-RGB, the media wedge can also consist of different RGB fields; in the case of the media wedge for multicolour printing such as seven-colour printing according to FOGRA55, the media wedge can also consist of 5 to 8 or more colours. However, such media wedges are still the exception, CMYK media wedges such as the UGRA/Fogra media wedge CMYK 3.0 are the most common media wedges in practice.
Each field has a defined colour value and a defined density or intensity. These values are precisely known, differ for all proof standards to be checked with the media wedge and serve as a reference for comparison with the printed result.
If a media wedge is used, it is printed together with the print job, i.e. usually the PDF. The printed media wedge is then measured with a colour measuring device, e.g. a spectrophotometer. The measured colour values are then compared with the known reference values of the media wedge in order to assess the accuracy of the colour reproduction and, if necessary, make adjustments to the colour management.
The media wedge is an important tool for ensuring that printed products are colour-correct and consistent. The media wedge is used in proofing in particular to ensure that the print result meets the colour specifications before actual print production begins.
At long last, we are able to fulfil a request made by many of our customers: from now on, you can register two email addresses in the Proof Shop – one for logging in and receiving status or tracking emails, and a separate one solely for receiving digital PDF invoices. Over the past few years, we have already switched many Proof customers to digital invoicing at their request, i.e. we generated a PDF invoice and then sent it manually to a second email address on file with us in the … read more
Today I received an email in which PANTONE asked how it should orientate its products and services in the future. The users were asked which countries, industries and company sizes they come from, but also what PANTONE products should look like in the future and what customers would be prepared to pay for PANTONE services in the future. Question: How much can PANTONE services cost? PANTONE appears to be orientating itself on the PANTONE Connect prices: All price queries have the lowest price category < $ 7,- / month, i.e. … read more
The most important colour management event takes place every two years in Munich: the Fogra Colour Management Symposium. Once again this year, all professionals are invited to make the pilgrimage to Munich: two days of lectures, discussions and a Bavarian evening await participants. Matthias Betz, owner of proof.de, will also be there again: for many years, he has been taking advantage of the opportunity to exchange ideas with colleagues and friends, learn about new technologies, hardware and software, and talk to colleagues from Fogra, freieFarbe, GMG and many more. In … read more
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
In recent years, various problems have arisen with our previous proof paper supplier. On the one hand, we sometimes had to wait more than three months for paper deliveries; on the other hand, we sometimes had significant problems with batch-to-batch discrepancies, surface defects and much more. After lengthy deliberations, we decided in December to replace all the paper. We therefore received pallets of new paper at the turn of the year, which we are now gradually incorporating into our production. There will be no hard cut, but the new papers … read more
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
A few days ago Proof GmbH was the first company to be certified for proofing for the new 7C exchange colour space FOGRA55. Fogra has developed characterisation data for extended multicolour printing with the printing colours CMYKOGV – i.e. cyan, magenta, yellow, black (contrast), orange, green and violet – FOGRA55 as part of a research project over the past few years. The characterisation data and the ICC profile Ref-ECG-CMYKOGV_FOGRA55_TAC300.icc have been published on the Fogra website in recent weeks. We have now carried out the certification via GMG ColorProof, as … read more
This year we once again created proofs for Fogra certification and sent them to Munich-Aschheim for testing. With these proof prints, which we print according to three different proof standards and on three different papers, we point out that we not only deliver excellent proof quality through internal quality controls and checks, but that the quality of our proofs is also measured and confirmed by external experts. We have now had test prints certified by Fogra for the 12th time. We have also been “Spot-cert” certified for the display of … read more
A new generation of colour measuring devices is entering the market: in contrast to the classic measuring devices, which are available as a fully encapsulated system either as a colourimeter or as a spectrophotometer, and then supply the data to a computer via an interface or app or display it directly, the new generation of colour measuring devices consist only of lighting and software, with the optics of a modern iPhone from Apple being used as the sensor. Until now, there have been two categories of measuring devices on the … read more
Having missed last year’s annual conference in Dresden at the last minute due to illness, I am all the more delighted to be attending this year’s event in Darmstadt. The programme is once again very exciting and varied! I’m particularly looking forward to Dr Andreas Kraushaar’s workshop ‘Measuring in Images’, the HDR lecture by Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Florian Süßl, and the insights into ‘Perzabsolut’ from Dr Moritz Feil. As we discovered at the last Colour Management Symposium in Munich, Moritz Feil – whilst working at the Technical University of Munich – … read more