The GWG2015 Specification is built on the modern ISO PDF/X-4 standard, and adds a number of specific requirements for different market segments, called variants. The variant ‘family’ covered by the GWG2015 PDF Specification is heatset and coldset printing – it includes more conservative variants restricted to the use of CMYK and more progressive variants allowing wider gamut color spaces for image content.
The GWG2015 PDF Specification for packaging addresses offset, gravure and flexographic printing. Leading the creation of this specification were the chairs of the packaging committee, Steve Carter from PhotoType and Lieven Plettinckx of Esko. They comment, “Because of the unique requirements inherent in the process, we needed to develop a dedicated PDF Specification for packaging. Built upon the ISO PDF/X-4 standard, the GWG2015 PDF Specification for packaging meets that need and addresses the specific issues relevant to package and label production.”
David Zwang, chairman, Ghent Workgroup comments, “The GWG2015 PDF Specification was developed to keep up with the changing state of technology and the market demands. The significant change in the 2015 specification was related to what constitutes the safe color spaces and conditions that can be used for reliable reproduction. In addition, there were other minor changes that are designed to address user feedback on the GWG2012 specification.”
Within the GWG2015 PDF Specification, the GWG defines a number of guidelines, which support different market segments, output processes or workflows. A magazine advertisement workflow has totally different guidelines than a commercial sheetfed workflow. Practical examples of requirements include the color spaces allowed in a PDF file, or the image resolution required for images in a particular type of workflow. PDF Specifications also feature page and text scaling, overprint, and ink coverage, as well as ICC profile usage.
Packaging South Asia is the cooperating media partner for drupa 2016 which is scheduled to be held from 31 May to 10 June at Dusseldorf, Germany.
