Improving ICC Profiles Color Management System Performance by Testing CIELAB of Duplex Paper in Color Reproduction Wiwi Prastiwinarti 1 , Saeful Imam 2 1,2 Politeknik Negeri Jakarta, Prof. Siwabessy Street. Kampus Baru Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia Keywords: ICC Profile, CIELAB, Duplex Paper, Color Difference Abstract: Accurate color control is very important in order to have a predictable quality of final product. A Technique is proposed for improving the color quality of digital color proof. This method investigates ICC Profile’s performance by testing CIELAB (Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage L*, a* and b*) value of Duplex paper. Firstly, ICC profile with color target ECI2002CMYK is sent to offset machine, and the corresponding CIELAB and the E color difference are obtained by spectrophotometer with color sensor. Secondly, the CIELAB of duplex paper are measured, and a new color target is developed to create ICC profile based on CIELAB of duplex paper. At last. For the purpose of testing the accuracy of the obtained ICC profile, these color target is sent to offset machine, and the color eror E is calculated. In the experiment the average color difference of ICC profile ECI2002 CMYK is 4.78E and the average color difference of ICC profile‘s duplex paper color is 3.15E which is below the printing error threshold and 2D- color gamut visualization of ICC profile ECI2002 CMYK and duplex paper color describe that creating ICC profile with approach of CIELAB duplex paper closely follow the data of ICC profile’s color ECI2002CMYK.   1 INTRODUCTION Color consistency is very important in printing quality. The problems in color reproduction is the difference between input device and output device color model and color gamut. However, the color devices used in the workflow have different color- mixing models and color gamuts, which makes the goal of color reproduction hard to accomplished (Liu et.al, 2007). The repeatable quality of colour reproduction is a growing challenge for producers of digital printing devices as well as for paper producers. The properties of the printing substrate such as whiteness, brightness, gloss, opacity, porosity, surface roughness, etc., the colourants and the printing technology in different combinations together are all factors that influence the overall print quality. Paper properties are one of the most important factors affecting the completeness of the image transfer and image appearance (Ivana et.al, 2013) Digital color proof on PrePress is a color reference before sending it to the offset or digital machine. The color management on PrePress uses a Color Management System (CMS) for input and output verification. CMS relationship regarding the CIE LAB color model standards. The ICC (International Color Consortium) profile is the key to achieving the CMS workflow. ICC profile color transformation begins by transforming the input device color on the CIELAB color standard model, then mapping the color gamut (collection of colors) from the input device to the output device on the CIELAB model, then transforming the color from CIELAB to the output device (Zhen Liu et.al, 2009; Jure Ahtik, 2017). The fact shows that the color of CMS application’s was not consistance between original and the reproduced product, even though the printing process is in accordance with the machine calibration requirements in making color standards. From the side of paper, making color standards uses only one type of paper, while the color standard is used to print several types of paper, such as duplex and ivory paper with different color characteristics. It is predicted that this paper color difference is one of the factors causing the difficulty of achieving print colors that match the color proofing, even though CMS has been applied. This paper proposes the design of the ICC Profile with a paper color approach that is through testing the color of printed paper LAB, using duplex paper. The Plate is printed with Prastiwinarti, W. and Imam, S. Improving ICC Profiles Color Management System Performance by Testing CIELAB of Duplex Paper in Color Reproduction. DOI: 10.5220/0009969401490152 In Proceedings of the 8th Annual Southeast Asian International Seminar (ASAIS 2019), pages 149-152 ISBN: 978-989-758-468-8 Copyright c  2020 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved 149