Brand Color Management with Clemson University & CGS ORIS
Streamline Your Brand Color Management
At Clemson University, Graphic Communication students get hands-on training to master brand color management with CxF CLOUD from concept to implementation.
Located in the northwestern region of South Carolina resides one of the state’s largest public institutions. Home to almost 30,000 students annually, Clemson University is a prominent research institution known for its enthusiastic campus culture and academic excellence. Their Graphic Communications program is highly regarded and known for strong industry connections that lead top-ranking students down the path to highly successful careers.
The Graphic Communications department has evolved over several decades to meet the ever-changing
demands of the printing industry. Today, the program includes emphasis on marketing, design, and digital communications in addition to traditional print education. Of the many topics covered in the curriculum, color management has always been a priority.
One way Congdon has encouraged excitement in all students is with the topic of brand color management. By discussing color from a designer or brand-owner point of view, the students are able to see a fresh perspective and renewed interest in standard color management. This encourages design-centric students to understand and appreciate how to execute physical print work to meet their specific intentions.
Through his efforts to continually improve the program, Congdon & other educators continuously seek input from leading industry professionals to bring the latest, top-of-the-line tools to students. This effort led Congdon to reconnect with the color management specialists at CGS ORIS Americas to discuss a solution for this course.
“We have a large focus on color profiling for CMYK, but I also wanted to implement newer spot color technology that is more robust than just an Lab* value. I want students to understand how to clearly specify a brand color and use it throughout the workflow,” commented Congdon when asked what kind of solution he sought.
In 2023, CxF CLOUD from CGS ORIS was implemented at Clemson University as the ideal solution for their students to understand the importance of defining brand colors using powerful data that exceeds simple Lab* values or outdated physical printed swatches.
In practice, students start by proofing artwork with their “Clemson Orange” spot color, defined with a simple Pantone color through their RIP application. With a flexo-printed press sheet as their target, students observe that, visually, the colors do not quite match – especially in the tints. This mismatch is observed not only visually but also confirmed with high-end spectrophotometers and certification tools to confirm out of tolerance deviations.
To improve color management results, students turn to the power of spectral data with CxF CLOUD. They start by measuring the complete tint ramp printed on the press form, from 0% to 100% in 10% increments, to generate a custom CxF file for their custom orange spot color. In just a couple of minutes, CxF data is generated and uploaded into their company database for easy online communication.
Once the complete characterization is defined, students then use their optimized color definition to produce a second proof for review. Students visually observe immediate improvement in the output – specifically in the tints. Using a built-in certification tool within the CxF CLOUD application, students perform their spot color evaluation again. This time, they observe that each patch of the spot color is well within the defined brand color tolerances.
“CxF CLOUD made color management and correction so much easier. Being able to measure, record, and certify colors in one program, with cloud-based measurement storage, saved me time and streamlined the process. The certification process is intuitive and effective, helping me to better understand how the information is read and calculated.”
– Griffin Sanders, Senior Student at Clemson University
While this is just one quick exercise, students quickly understand, through hands-on experience, the power that spectral data can hold when ensuring brand color compliance. “The flexibility of CxF CLOUD to generate spectral data is a great way to explore different options within the industry for making proofs and formulating ink with greater accuracy,” comments Congdon.
Profiling and calibrating CMYK color spaces is often the focus of color management discussions. With the implementation of this application at Clemson University, print and design-focused students are able to graduate with a deeper color management understanding for how to clearly communicate spot color definitions and expectations.
“We do not have other products in our suite that do what this application does. We have applications that use this data really well, but nothing else that creates the data to the capacity of this product.”
– Bobby Congdon, Clinical Assistant Professor & Internship Coordinator
While CxF CLOUD filled an immediate gap in the curriculum, Congdon sees other opportunities to use this application to enhance the students’ learning experience. In the future, educators at Clemson hope to further train on the incredible benefit of using CxF data to improve the ink formulation process as well as how to embed the data during the design process.
CGS ORIS Americas is proud to support secondary education organizations specializing in Graphic Communications to introduce students to advanced color management tools and industry best practices. While CxF CLOUD assists with brand color management, CGS ORIS offers a range of applications suitable for commercial and industrial print organizations to ensure consistent and reliable color management from proofing through production.
