GMG is now offering ColorBook, a colour guide for users of digital printing technology based on their own production set-up and providing a real-world colour reference for customers.

GMG identified that whilst digital printing is rapidly gaining traction and importance, notably in the packaging industry, questions are still asked about how can Pantone colours and custom brand colours be simulated with a fixed set of four to seven inks.

With GMG’s ColorServer and OpenColor technologies controlling colour conversion, the company has now moved to help printers and converters prove this to potential clients using ColorBook. Described as ‘not your typical colour guide’, GMG ColorBook is a personalised communication tool for digitally-printed Pantone colour simulations from a printer’s own digital press. ColorBook comes as an option to GMG ColorServer and GMG OpenColor, and appears as a single additional button in the user interface.

Peter Schöffler, product manager at GMG, explained, ‘In digital printing, GMG ColorBook is a Pantone-licensed colour reference for simulating Pantone and custom brand colours based on a precise set of real print conditions. We’re not talking about a regular colour guide, but one created on your own press – in real printing conditions.

‘In short, GMG ColorBook shows the actual end result because GMG ColorBook is produced under production conditions, on the same press, using the same inks, and on the production substrate.’

The result is a new sales tool for printers who want to physically demonstrate their colour competence in digital printing before an order is placed. In addition, GMG ColorBook establishes a building block for reliable colour communication.

Mr Schöffler continued, ‘From design to pre-press, from the pressroom to the clients and brands, if everyone’s expectations are aligned, we create reassuring process reliability from start to finish.’

Iain Pike, director of licensing at Pantone, said, ‘Pantone is delighted to collaborate with GMG on GMG ColorBook because this unique solution simulates the full range of Pantone colours that demanding print buyers hope to see from their print service providers. Printers and their brand and design clients can quickly and easily compare GMG ColorBook to the Pantone Formula Guide Solid Coated because the page numbers and layout are identical between these references, thereby setting the right colour expectations based on the digital printing job parameters.’