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Meet the Inventor of G7

By Margie Dana

Don Hutcheson will be one of our speakers in Chicago at the inaugural PBI Print & Media Conference Midwest on May 19th. Perhaps you know him — as thousands do — as the inventor of G7, which is now the standard for printing and proofing.

With over 40 years’ experience in photography, design, pre-press, printing and color science, Don has pioneered many techniques we now take for granted, like RGB workflows, soft proofing, extended-gamut printing and digital proofing.

In 1995 he started the world’s first color management consultancy, HutchColor, LLC, to bring the concept of ICC color management to professional graphic users. Today he continues to train the world’s top printers, publishers, agencies, photographers and designers through private consulting and public conferences.

In 2006 as chair of the IDEAlliance GRACoL committee, Don used his own Proof-to-Press calibration method (now known as “G7®”) to produce the current GRACoL and SWOP data sets. Since then, G7 has made standardized printing and proofing easier and more accessible to thousands of printers and print buyers world-wide.

For more information, go to www.hutchcolor.com.

I asked Don six questions about what we might learn on May 19th as he presents, “What Is G7 – and Why Print Buyers & Designers Should Be Excited About It.”

  1. Don, for folks who aren’t familiar with it, please define G7.

    DH: G7 is a new methodology that makes standardized proofing and printing a little easier. G7 uses proven photographic principles to define how a gray scale should look when printed on any printing process. It’s also a method of calibrating any printing system to match the G7 gray scale definition, and finally, it’s a set of production control values to help maintain that condition.

  2. I decided that a session on G7 would be the only technical session out of the six we’re offering at our Chicago show. Convince me – and our readers – that this was a very smart decision.

    DH: Although the subject sounds technical, G7 is a very easy concept for non-technical people to grasp. I explain it in visual terms that any designer or photographer can understand. Best of all, there won’t be a test!

  3. Without giving it all away, what will our attendees learn from your session, keeping in mind we’ll have a mix of print buyers, graphic designers, and marcom professionals?

    DH: Probably the biggest take-away will be how attendees can start taking advantage of G7, without spending a nickel, the minute they get back to their workstations. I’ll also share how to set up a Mac or PC so what you see on screen is as close as possible to what you’ll see on press.

  4. Why is G7 so difficult a concept to ‘get,’ do you think?

    DH: Actually, most people have no difficulty understanding G7 once it’s explained in layman’s terms. If it’s confusing it’s only because G7 is more than just one thing — it’s both a goal and a methodology for achieving that goal. Once that’s explained, it’s pretty simple.

  5. What makes a printer a “G7 Expert” or “Master Printer”?

    DH: A G7 Master is a printer who has been trained by an IDEAlliance-certified G7 Expert to use the G7 system. More importantly, taking the trouble to become a G7 Master demonstrates you care about quality and consistency.

  6. As the inventor of G7, what’s your mission?

    DH: One of my missions has always been to make difficult processes easier and to help others get better results in less time with less cost. That’s why I gave G7 away free to the industry, rather than patenting and selling it.

    But I’m also motivated by the lack of education within the industry. For example, designers should be taught in school (but never are) that a proof is only a color guide, not a guarantee of how the press sheet will look, and a 2% change in any color is smaller than the average variation of the average press run. So I guess another mission is helping print buyers understand the difference between reasonable and unrealistic expectations.

Thanks, Don! I look forward to meeting you in Chicago and hearing your presentation.

For those of you who can make it to Chicago on May 19th, please come meet Don Hutcheson.

Register online for PBI Midwest. Your low-low-low fee ($79 till 3/15; $99 after) covers all six sessions, breakfast, lunch, a cocktail party and nonstop networking.

© 2011 Margie Dana. All rights reserved. Your comments are encouraged. You’re free to forward this email to friends and colleagues. However, no part of this column may be reprinted without permission from the author.