Chapter: Digital Dots' Specialist Features to 2008
This is the second in our series of Prepress Quizzes, designed to help you get an idea of where the gaps in your knowledge are…
Is it Who You Know or What You Know? (No 26)
Most people want to keep on learning throughout their lives, but unfortunately many businesses, especially small ones, don’t prioritise it. There is always something else going on and it is always so much more interesting or urgent. Somewhere in between the two is a happy compromise where learning happens almost incidentally. If you’re reading this and browsing the rest of the magazine or Website you’re on the way, because reading about new developments in the industry is an easy and convenient way of staying informed.
Trawling Websites and working with suppliers to stay up to date with new product developments, are also simple and inexpensive ways to keep knowledge on the agenda. Visiting trade shows takes a bit more effort and expense, but the wealth of activities at industry events is worth it. At the top end of the price scale is participation in seminars are conferences, which have the added benefit of providing an intimate networking environment.
This Prepress Quiz could be a walkover for you or leave you feeling thoroughly depressed. It tests your Colour Management knowledge and hopefully will help you work out how you can apply basic colour management practises for the benefit of your business.
Colour Management
1. What does ICC stand for? (a) Internet Connectivity Clone (b) International Colour Consortium (c) Intelligent Core Catalyst (d) Itinerant Client Cluster
2. Why do RGB colours need to be converted to CMYK for print? (a) Because CMYK colours look better (b) RGB is an additive colour space, which cannot be printed (c) Conversion is a value added service for special clients (d) CMYK inks are cheaper than RGB inks
3. Why should you calibrate a monitor? (a) To make it last longer (b) To make sure designers use specific colours (c) To use less energy (d) To view accurate colours
4. What is the Profile Connection Space (a) Software for linking computers together (b) A means of calculating colour corrections across multiple devices (c) The colour space that describes the visible coloour spectrum (d) A processing system for calculating spot colours
5. Where in the workflow should colour be checked and corrected if required? (a) At the press (b) When viewing pages on the monitor (c) When digitising images (d) All of the above
6. How do you create accurate ICC output profiles? (a) With a ruler (b) Using a dotmeter (c) With calibration and measurement tools (d) On the run
7. What is solid colour control? (a) Software for preventing tints and halftones (b) Ink duct control on press (c) A form of colorimetric colour control (d) A technique for measuring halftone grey patches
8. The range of colours a device can render is called its: (a) Colour gama (b) Colour space (c) Colour spectrology (d) Open Colour
9. What does Delta E measure? (a) The Euclidean distance between two colours (b) The accuracy of printing dots (c) Screening values (d) Ink density
10. What is colour? (a) A state of mind (b) The interaction of the parabole acentuated lightwaves and rods and cones in the eye (c) The brain’s interpretation of how a surface reflects and absorbs visible light (d) A chemical interaction on a surface that appears as colours
Now it’s time to see how well or otherwise, you did. Each correct answer gets you four points for a maximum of 40 for each quiz.
A score of 0-10 suggests that you are clearly living in a world where the digital revolution is of no interest to you. This is probably because you don’t need to know anything about digital technology to do your job. However at some point you will need to be at least vaguely aware of digital production so you might want to consider paying a tad more attention to what’s going on around you.
11-20 suggests you’re sort of into digital prepress but that there are some serious gaps in your knowledge. The time to start rectifying that is now, before the industry undergoes its next major upheaval and digital production methods take an even bigger jump forward. For your customers things will be even worse, so take the plunge and keep yourself ahead of the game.
21-30 says you are well clued up digital production, but get a bit confused sometimes. It is probably worthwhile taking some time each day to read more about technologies you”re not so sure of, and get in touch with your technology suppliers to get them to present their latest development ideas. It’s a great way to get an inside track.
If you’ve scored 31-40 we need to make these quizzes tougher or hire a new prepress specialist. You are clearly in no need of any help or guidance and have the digital world at your fingertips. Hats off to you for your dedication to learning, your commitment to your work and your superior ability to turn information into knowledge.
Answers 1. - b 2. - b 3. - d 4. - c 5. - d 6. - c 7. - c 8. - b 9. - a 10. – c
You can download the PDF of this Quiz by using the link below.
