Here's the post Erik is referring to (very slightly edited for clarity):
RE: Dov Isaacs wrote: “I question your assertion that we at Adobe “hold most of the cards in this space” from the point of view that
(a) we have no way to force content providers and print service providers to properly use color management or use it at all,"
[Gordo] The way color management is currently implemented in authoring applications means that one has to be a color management expert in order to benefit from it.
Dov Isaacs wrote: "(b) we cannot prevent third parties from adding “secret sauce” solutions to the workflow"
[Gordo] Agreed. But perhaps something could be done within the apps that Adobe does control?
Dov Isaacs wrote: "(c) there is a limit to how much educating Adobe can do without cooperation from the graphic arts education community, much of which has little expertise and/or experience in this area."
[Gordo] Based on my experience, educating the creative folks who use the software in technical matters such as color management is problematic - if not futile.
Dov Isaacs wrote: "What do you think we should or could do?"
[Gordo] Color management as it's currently implemented is similar to the controls that a driver needed to know how to use in order to drive a 1920s car (e.g.
How to: Drive a Ford Model T - Feature - Car and Driver ). But unlike the evolution of the automobile, we are adding more controls and more sophisticated ones, rather than eliminating them through automation. At the end of the day, most drivers just want to get from point A to point B. I.e. they want to get to a destination. And I believe that is also true for document creators. They just want to get to their chosen destination without all the complication.
So, would it be possible to automate the application of color management so that it is destination focussed rather than controls focussed? Or perhaps have that as an alternate workflow option so that sophisticated users could still fiddle with the controls if they so desired.
What I'm thinking of is something like a "destination" menu option that the user would use to select the destination of the document they're working on. The destination could be generic (newspaper, the web, sheetfed, etc.) or specific (Joe Blow's Print Shoppe). The authoring application would then apply, behind the scenes, the appropriate color management tags, profiles, whatevers based on the profile of that destination. If a destination tagged image is brought into a different application (say a PShop image into an InDesign page) the creative would be notified if there is a destination mismatch that the creative needs to resolve.
If creatives use an RGB environment then they could perhaps change the destination in their document and behind the scenes the authoring app would, behind the scenes, retag or do whatever is appropriate to purpose the document for the new destination.
It seems that all the components are in place (specified industry standard print conditions, profiles, and file output formats) but is dependent on the operator to bring the pieces together instead of the authoring software (which already has all this info built in). If the destination is non-standard, say Joe Blow's Print Shoppe, perhaps there could be some piece of software available for him to create a his own custom destination profile. So the creative might start with a generic destination profile - e.g. GRACoL, but once he knows he will be printing at Joe Blow's Print Shoppe he would then apply the Joe Blow's Print Shoppe destination profile and all the applicable changes needed would be automatically applied by the authoring app.
Just a thought.
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What I find fascinating is that color management and implementation has been an identified problem in the graphic arts since the introduction of desktop publishing in the mid 80s.
In the early days of DtP the computer displays were grayscale - not color. But I had no trouble specifying color with confidence because I (like all graphic designers) was used to specifying color without actually seeing it until I got color proofs from the trade house or printshop. At that point plate-ready film had been imaged so any changes would have cost a fortune. I simply specified color in my page layout application the same way I did on mechanical art - typing the specifications in the app instead of writing them on overlays. It worked very well.
This tying together and automating behind the scenes the application of color management, rendering intents, profiles, output, etc. has been done successfully before and is an offering by at least one vendor's prepress system - so I know it should be workable in the authoring space.
I think that Adobe (Dov Isaacs) is in a unique position to solve this decades old problem - all the components are there, except perhaps the will.