I have recently started a multi-city color theory and management training tour for X-Rite at several Xerox locations throughout the U.S. The one day internal seminar entitled Color Under Control is sponsored by Creo Color Servers and centers around the entire color perspective, from creation to display to print.

So far we have presented in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. The response has been overwhelmingly positive and I have narrowed it down to a few things. One is content. Teaching color to professionals in color needs to have perspective. The focus of Color Under Control has two major structures, Settings and Applying Settings. There is also a healthy dose of color theory which if presented with absolute detail can put the audience to sleep. Our approach is to serve up a healthy dose of theory focusing on the most important ingredients to understanding this vast discipline. We focus on the nature of color in respect to RGB and CMYK which both are defined as device dependent and understanding and comprehending device independent color such as CIELAB.

Reactions to the seminar have stimulated discussions and many satisfied remarks have been written and spoken to both me and Mark Gundlach of X-Rite. I really feel the strength of the training is in our perspective in content and in the delivery of that content. We take out the importance of any one part of the digital workflow and focus our energy toward the entire perspective, from assigning input color to conversion to the working space and conversion to the final print space.

The second reason the seminar has been received positively has to do with delivery. Delivery of technical information has to create a picture and be clear in concept. Understanding color means you need to comprehend “under the hood” concepts. I personally advocate the “color traffic controller” role in color management. The color traffic controller manages all incoming color from source space to destination space. The color traffic controller manages the working space to the print space. The OS manages the working space to the display space. You first have to understand it conceptually before you venture off into the details.

As you gain experience managing color you will find there is always this commonality. All color converts from a source space to a destination space, the destination space becomes the new source space. When you engineer applications to accept these color spaces in the form of embedded profiles there is a seamless conversion into and from applications. Luckily applications like Adobe’s CS Suite and most RIP’s like Creo’s SPIRE RIP both have these engines and settings built into them. ICC is not going away and it is here to stay. Some users reject color management like they have a choice. It’s really difficult to totally reject all ICC based color management because you will likely be confronted with it somewhere in the process. The best thing users can do is understand how ICC profiles work and where ICC profiles are working. From that perspective you can engineer a process to use color conversion effectively and solve most all color problems.

It was freezing cold in Grand Rapids this last week. I have never been so cold. But then again, I am used to San Diego weather where if it rains for more than a few centimeters it makes major news.

I meet with fellow color freaks Mark Gundlach and Phil Nelson. We went over the new 08 seminar materials and I must say I am excited to present this years content. It’s a little different than years past with some added material from Pantone. Read More…