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April 2008

Tuesday Tidbits

by JimRaffel on April 29, 2008

More problems at X-Rite: As a person who makes a living in the color measurement side of our industry I read the following with a bit of distress this morning….X-Rite shares plummet on loan defaults from MLive.com.  According to the article X-Rite is now in default on two of the loan agreements tied to the acquisitions of Gretagmacbeth and Pantone and investors are concerned bankruptcy could be considered as an option.

State of Wisconsin grant cuts training cost by half:  Wisconsin employers can send employees to training sessions like the GATF Sheetfed Offset Press Operating Workshop at Institute for Graphics and Imaging (IGI).  This four day hands on workshop has a normal cost of $1,595 but is cut to $800 thanks to a very generous grand from Wisconsin.

Make sure you have control of you keywords:  As web-to-print grows and the importance of your web-site along with it, make sure you have control of you brand and your keywords.  If you don’t you might end up in court like these two Florida mortgage companies did.  While you may think you have the rights to your company name, your competitor with a similar name may not agree.  I think the world 0f web-to-print makes these types of disputes in the printing industry very likely.  (Oh boy, I just found more work for the lawyers….)

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Kuler is not cooler – by Michael Jahn

by JimRaffel on April 28, 2008

Michael Jahn, a JimRaffel.com reader replied to me via email about a previous post and I found his comments enlightening about how scary the world of color has become for those of us in the graphic arts that have to actually print this stuff.

So, for the first time ever (I think) a guest contributor at JimRaffel.com….

Hi Jim,

Read you blog about Kuler;

As I suggest in my subject like, I do not think Kuler is cooler.

Okay, I will give you it has a sweet looking thing to look at, but so was that Brazilian chick I dated.

example – go to Kuler – in the search tool, enter “swop”

notkloseinkuler.jpg

See attached (this is made from several screen captures – Kuler runs in a browser, so that is RGB – I did my screen captures in Photoshop building while in CMYK, profile was SWOP version 2 – not wanting to debate the fine points, as Kuler seems to have no real notion of CMYK that one wonders why they offer it at all…

So, my gripe is that if one were specifying in CMYK

– 50k should look fairly close to 50c, 38m, 38 y, 0k – in Kuler (TOP) they don’t, and in Photoshop, (BOTTOM) they do

and 50c, 50m, 50y 0k should look a bit warmish brownish, in Kuler it is neutral (incorrect) and in Photoshop it is a bit warmish brownish (correct)

I have no explanation as to why 19c, 0m, 0y, 38k should look like 50c, 38m, 38 y, 0k – in Kuler, or anything that might create, display, report proof, print or plate.

Clearly – This is not ready for prime time for color specifying in the world of print


Michael Jahn
Jahn & Associates
PDF Color Conversion Specialist

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I’m Busy Darnit!

April 22, 2008

I am really busy all of a sudden but I made a commitment to myself to provide more valuable content on this blog almost every day.  So, here are some links to start your Tuesday morning off right. 1. Scott Sheppard of Inside Digital Photo Radio who some of my readers may remember from the [...]

Blurb Books and Why I Still Love Print

April 21, 2008

Yesterday we unveiled the blurb.com(affiliate link) book to my father.  While I am a big fan of digital photography and all the new media, there is just something about a printed book and the Blurb books are a perfect example.  In this case a picture really is worth a thousand words….well two pictures actually. Yes, I [...]

Virtual Proofing – Oh Boy!

April 17, 2008

I believe virtual proofing is at the same cross roads ink jet proofing was around 2001.  I am both hearing and observing information that provides growing support in my own mind for this position.  First, I am not going to name any names in this post.  Why?  Because gut feelings and intuition are not fact. [...]

IGI Names Dahl as Executive Director

April 16, 2008

Pewaukee, WI – The Institute for Graphics and Imaging has chosen as its new director Ron Dahl.  I am sure an official press release from the IGI is not far behind this post and will contain complete biographic information about Mr. Dahl.  I sat down with Ron late yesterday afternoon (his first official day on [...]

kuler – Another Big Company Reinvents Spelling

April 15, 2008

A while ago I ran across a cool Adobe Labs web application called kuler. I guess it is geared more to the design community, but if you love color (note C O L O R not k u l e r) like I do you will have fun playing around with it. (Oh, I suppose [...]

X-Rite colormunki

April 14, 2008

More than just a few of you have been asking for my thoughts and comments about the recently announced X-Rite colormunki.  Because X-Rite has clearly positioned this device for the Photography and Design markets, for now we at ColorMetrix are taking a wait and see position.  Rest assured I have plenty of thought and comments [...]

Bithday Post

April 13, 2008

While I would like to say today is about me (since it is my birthday), it is really about my mother.  44 years ago today I remember nothing, but for her I am sure it was a very special day.  I mean what more could a woman have wanted in 1964 than a 5th child? [...]

The Blurb.com Books Arrived

April 11, 2008

Late yesterday afternoon UPS showed up with our box of 20 books from blurb.com (affiliate link).  Put simply we are impressed. First, the packaging of the Blurb books was professional with each book individually shrink wrapped and then all 20 books neatly stacked in an appropriately sized box with packing material to fill the extra space [...]