For  the 10th year in a row, NGS Printing has achieved G7 Master qualification in color proofing, wide-format digital printing and screen-printing. We couldn’t be more proud to receive this distinction yet again. You may be wondering, however, what G7 Master Qualification is all about.

Handed down by the nonprofit industry group Idealliance – short for the International Digital Enterprise Alliance – G7 is a title that’s given to printing vendors who have met various qualifications standards that help ensure repeatability. If a vendor is G7 certified, customers can bank on the fact that the substrate colors and inks that vendors use will appear evenly across a variety of printing methods and substrates thanks to the quality assurance process that’s in place.

Consistency is something many people take for granted. Take the restaurant industry as an example. What’s the most important aspect to customer satisfaction for dining facilities? Good food certainly is critical, as is a courteous staff and maintaining a pleasant dining atmosphere. Above all else, though, consistency is the most indispensable aspect of all. Diners need to be assured that the food and services they’ve previously received will be every bit as good the next time they’re out to eat and every other time thereafter.

G7 classification is the printing industry equivalent of that same consistency – only your main course is a feast for the eyes.

However, much like the food and atmosphere when comparing restaurants, G7 Masters aren’t all built the same. Ranked lowest to highest, there are three different classifications: Grayscale, Targeted and Colorspace. Here’s a bit more on each of these distinctions, which can help you get a better read on G7 before selecting a printing vendor.

Grayscale
Perhaps the best word to describe Grayscale is “basic.” Idealliance grants this certification to vendors that demonstrate certain quality assurance standards, such as target prints being produced on a stable printing system, presses capable of printing neutral tones and ink curves aligning with the G7 ideal for neutral density curves. When these performance metrics are adequately addressed, it ensures that all the colors printed will have a consistency in appearance in terms of vibrancy.

Targeted
If a printing vendor has G7 Master Targeted qualification, it’s an indication that they’ve hit all the basic components of G7 Grayscale – plus a bit more. The Alliance grants this status to printers whose primary, secondary and substrate colors all fall within a targeted color space, hence the name. In short, G7 Targeted is a more rigorous compliance standard that vendors have met.

“G7 Targeted achievement lets customers know that not only can a facility hit G7 Grayscale, but they can also achieve a higher level of compliance and their strongest colors can hit, for example, the specific LAB values for GRACoL 2013,” the Alliance noted at its website.

Colorspace
Last but certainly not least – just the opposite, in fact – Colorspace is the third level of compliance and the strictest of them all. In order to obtain Colorspace qualification, vendors must not only meet the qualification standards of Targeted and Grayscale, as established by the Alliance, but also go above and beyond them. They can reach this certification by matching an entire reference print condition, as opposed to only those within ISO 12647-2, as is the case with Targeted. As it’s title implies, Colorspace assures that the printing systems and technologies vendors use are able to consistently recreate the primary and secondary colors CMY and RGB; the primary colors of the whole color spectrum, which is quite vast..

G7 Master qualification is something that every printing vendor seeks to achieve, but many come up short. That’s not the case for NGS Printing, as we’ve not only received G7 Master status, but Colorspace for proofing and Targeted for inkjet printing. This is an indication that we use only the finest of techniques, controls and substrates throughout the printing process – from start to finish. Because G7 Master qualification is good for only one year, you can be sure that NGS Printing is constantly updating and maintaining its platforms to ensure images are consistent and colors are vivid. In short, we not only say that our results go beyond the ink, but our certification also proves it.

From hanging signs to printed panels, window clings to aisle violators, NGS Printing has the capabilities and proficiencies that get noticed on signage of all shapes and sizes. Request a quote today!