INDUSTRY STANDARDS — FOR THE COMMON GOOD

G7 originally was developed to support the GRACoL 7 specification. The “G” refers to calibrating gray values and the “7” stands for the seven primary color values defined in the ISO 12647-2 printing standard—Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black (K), Red (M+Y), Green (C+Y) and Blue (C+M).

The GRACoL Committee found the ISO standard’s “reliance on a small number of solid ink colors and TVI curves limits its value in ICC color managed workflows. The main problem is that ISO 12647-2 is ambiguous due to the use of ­multiple TVI curves, and the lack of a colorimetric definition for gray balance. Today’s users want a printing standard to define the ‘appearance’ of the final image more precisely than is guaranteed with ­ISO 12647-2.”