First, let me apologize for the long delay between nuggets. The launch of ProofPass.com [Virtual] has kept all of us at ColorMetrix quite busy over the last few months. My role in the launch kicked into high gear about mid-April and has not let up since. My involvement in the launch also precipitated posts #53 and #54, both of which resulted in quite a few very positive email responses. For all of you, who took the time to respond, thank you! The positive (and constructive) comments I receive in response to the nuggets are the only “pay” I get for this job and it is greatly appreciated.I have spent a great deal of time over the last several weeks visiting customers and prospective customers. Some of our customers freely admit they do not measure as much of their process or as often as they would like. My response has become three simple words. “Just Measure It!” I have been in the color measurement business for well over 20 years now, and if I have only learned one thing, it is that what is measured gets done.
Simply stated, if you want a press operator to run to a specific density, then the press side measurements need to be stored in a verifiable database. Don’t believe me? Go check if your press side densitometers have been calibrated in the last week, or that they are even charged.
So, my challenge for this week is simple. Pick one measurable part of your color process and start measuring it. For some of you this may mean trying out our new ProofPass.com [Virtual] product to verify your monitor calibration. For others it might be time to start measuring your plates on a more regular basis. If you are not yet measuring your proofs or press product and you are reading this, well I think I have earned the right to say shame on you. By the next time I post a nugget be measuring something in your color process you are not measuring today.