Colour guru calls for digital print standard

Fogra’s colour expert, Andreas Kraushaar, spreads the word to Australians.

On his recent Australian tour, Kraushaar addressed printers in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane to promote the benefits of adopting and embracing ISO standards.

The Munich-based Kraushaar, who is Fogra’s head of prepress, believes that when it comes to adopting standards Australia is “two to three years behind Europe.”

Kraushaar believes that its not-for-profit nature makes ISO a more compelling option for printers. “ISO doesn’t promote anything, it just offers rules and a framework for an industry to participate in,” he said.

Pictured: Robert Gatto (left) with Andreas Kraushaar (right) at Old Parliament House, Sydney.

Kraushaar’s advice to audiences was to understand ISO’s history and the technical requirements of the process.

“I recommend considering the implementation and knowledge of standards before clients force you into doing it,” he said.

He also believes that there is a strong need to make a dedicated standard for digital printing.

“If we get all the major digital manufacturers on board and participating in ISO we might get a first draft in one to two years but it requires a lot of momentum,” Kraushaar said.

“If we work together it is do-able. We could have a draft in one to two years time. To get to a published standard could take up to 3 years from now.”

According to Robert Gatto of Kayell, whose company sponsored the event in conjunction with Epson, it was encouraging to see such support from printers around the country.

This was reiterated Kraushaar, who was optimistic of ISO’s local take up.
“I was mesmerised and astonished by the response from Australians,” he said.

“They are all very eager to understand more about the process and I think they will start to consider it more and more.”

Held one week after DES’ ISO seminars in Sydney and Melbourne, the events from both companies drew very strong crowds, proving that printers are very aware of the need to implement colour standards into their businesses.