Information on Color printing

Color By Words makes adjusting the color on your prints easy.  With Color by Words you use natural language to adjust and refine the color on your prints.  The Color by Words technology is part of more of our printers and multifunction devices.  Several of the latest products to have Color by Words.  The  feature can be seen in Phasers, WorkCentres and ColorQubes.  Using Color by Words allows you to adjust the color of the prints without affecting the original file. 

You can manipulate the color through the use of simple natural language instructions chosen from a few simple pull-down menus.  Here are samples of the menus:

As you can see you simply describe what you want the colors to do and the Xerox Printer will adjust accordingly.  It is really an amazing and intuitive way to adjust color. 

As an example I made an extreme change to the pictures below.  All I did was choose Change all green colors completely to purple there you have purple “green” bell peppers!  The changes can be major as in this example or they can be subtle or somewhere in between.  Try it for yourself and see how easy it is to make color changes without having to know all the technical ins and outs of color and color theory.

If you would like additional information about Color by Words explore the website, take a look at the brochure or go to the support pages for the machines that have Color by Words and search on “Color by Words”.  Now here is a short video on Color by Words. 

Welcome to a short introduction to a couple of new products. Let’s start with what you have learned to expect from me. There is an abundance of Support for these machines at the Online Support pages and of course phone support.  Now that we have gotten that said let’s talk about the Xerox Color C75 and J75 Press.  These are production printers that provide great versatility.  There is a wide spectrum of media that can be used in the machines including photo applications papers, DocuMagnets and more.  There is also several finisher options that can take your printing to the next level. 

The Xerox Color J75 Press offers the inline Spectrophotometer providing the power of our Automated Color Quality Suite (ACQS) color management tools to improve color stability, accuracy and repeatability. With the spectrophotometer placed within the paper path, automated processes like color calibration and destination profiling automatically streamline workflow and boost productivity.

The Xerox Color C75 Press provides exceptional control over both alignment and registration with the Simple Image Quality Adjustment toolset. SIQA gives you automated registration control, assuring that jobs meet the most exacting standards. And SIQA’s SMILE correction process lets you adjust density uniformity, giving accurate color edge-to-edge and page-to-page.

Check out the brochures for the Xerox Color J75 Press and the Xerox Color C75 Press.  Also take a look at the web pages for the Xerox Color J75 Press and the Xerox Color C75 Press.  You will find all the information you need about the features and functions of both of these machines. 

Below is the video for the Xerox Color J75 and here is the link to the Xerox Color C75 video.

Remember if you have a question or issue with any of your Xerox equipment we have support on the Support pages or the Xerox Customer Support Community.

New machines have been added to our Production line.  The Xerox CiPress 500 and the Xerox CiPress 325 Production Inkjet System use waterless ink technology to produce vibrant color on low cost plain paper.  Last time we talked about solid ink now we have waterless ink!  Will wonders never cease!  The waterless inks are dry granules that feed easily and melt quickly. The granules are easy to store and refill, you can even refill on the fly.  The ink dispensing drums are permanent fixtures and therefore do not require recycling.  The drums are refilled using easy to handle 10 kilo (~22 lb) containers.  Storage is no problem because the waterless inks have no restrictions on shelf-life. 

Take a look at the video below for information on the CiPress and the waterless ink. 

So why is waterless the way to go?  The key benefit is the elimination of water so that vibrant, consistent color can be printed on low-cost, offset paper that comes out flat with no ink soaking through.  The waterless ink also has the highest de-inkability rating from the International Association of the Deinking Industry (INGEDE).   What is de-inkability?  That means that deinking  is easier letting the printed paper be recycled.  Deinking is the key process in paper recycling. Hydrophobic (water-repellent) ink particles are separated from hydrophilic (water-wettable) fibers.  Deinking is not fully possible with most water based inks so the dyes and ink particles too small to be removed have no other exit during the recycling process than the fibers. The dyes and ink particles stain the recycled material just as red socks dye the underwear in the washing machine. This can cause recycled paper to look drab and not bright white.  This is an issue recyclers have been struggling with for over 20 years.  But this is not an issue with the Xerox waterless ink. 

What else will you find with the new Xerox CiPress 500 and the Xerox CiPress 325?  The machines have an intelligent system that continuously monitors every page it produces and self-adjusts if an ink nozzle isn’t firing properly. There’s more uptime and less operator involvement to maintain performance.

The product was developed using more than 2,000 patents leading to a robust print head design.  There are 56 durable piezo-electric, drop-on-demand print heads with more than 49,000 nozzles jetting nearly two billion ink drops per second. Each drop hits the paper with precise pixel placement.  An intelligent scan bar checks billions of ink droplets per second so they appear exactly where they should as the printer produces more than 2,000 color images per minute on the CiPress 500 and more than 1300 color images per minutes on the CiPress 325.  These are great products, make sure review all the information available on the product pages including a video tour, to find out all the features and advantages of these machines.

Once upon a time there was Solid Ink… Solid Ink isn’t that an oxymoron?  I mean either it is solid or it is ink… Oh well let’s take a look at these big crayons.  That is what they are big blocks of resin-based non-toxic color that are melted in the printer and affixed to the paper through heat and pressure.  They create a great image.  Printers that use solid ink require no special paper and the prints do not curl or wrinkle like other color laser or inkjet printers. 

The technology has been around since 1991, the last century!!  But in the recent past the technology and the ink formulas have been refined.  The solid ink generates 90% less waste than comparable color laser printers.  So let’s take a look at how the ink gets to the paper.

Okay so there are no little guys with paintball guns in your printer but there is a precise stainless steel print head with tiny holes smaller than a human hair.  It uses 1,236 nozzles jetting more than 30 million drops per second.  The ink is jetted from the print head to a heated drum and then is pressed onto the paper.   Due to this process less ink wicks into the paper fibers and that controls dot spread, allowing for a crisper looking image.   The image on the left below is the magnified image from a Color laser printer, the image on the right is solid ink.

Solid ink is fast, precise, and less expensive.  Print speeds can reach 30-85 pages per minute.  To find out even more about solid ink and the machines that use them please watch the informative video below and then explore the Solid Ink website. 

This month we have published articles about color and how, why and when to use color in your documents. 

Please review the previous blog posts “Xerox Confident Color“,  “The Importance of Color”, “Using Color” and “Colorology – Psychology of Color” for more information.  So now it is time for a quiz, that’s right a pop quiz about the meaning and use of color.  Let’s go old school, please pull out a piece of paper and a pen and number the page 1-12 down the left hand side, remember those days?    Now let’s see how you do!!

1. What color is normally associated with optimism, yet can often unnerve readers when used too much?
    A. Light Green     B. Yellow     C. Lavender
2. Which color often stimulates the appetite?
   A. Red     B. Bright Blue     C. Orange
3. What color is subliminally associated with truth?
   A. Light Blue     B. White     C. Dark Green
4. What color conveys royalty and sophistication?
   A. Gold    B. Royal Blue     C. Purple
5. Which color is associated with fun and cheerfulness?
   A. Light Blue     B. Green     C. Orange
6. To create a high-tech image, it is effective to combine neutral grays with what types of accents?
   A. Silver and gold     B. Bright colors     C. Deep reds
7. Which color is most dramatic for backgrounds?
   A. Black     B. Purple     C. Gray     D. Purple
8. Which of the following colors is NOT a good choice for natural or environmentally themed materials?
   A. Green     B. Brown     C. Yellow     D. Gray blues
9. Which color most often implies authority, financial responsibility, and security?
   A. Dark Green     B. Blue     C. Blacks and grays
10. Which color would you use to imply health and tranquility? (Here’s a hint: think fresh.)
    A. Deep Blue     B. Yellow     C. Green
11. Earth tones with bright lime and purple accents are associated with what era?
    A. The Fifties     B. The Sixties     C. The Seventies
12. What is the most universally popular color?
    A. Red     B. Blue     C. Yellow     D. Green

Quiz source: © 1998 Kinko’s, Inc. All depictions of Kinko’s are the exclusive property of Kinko’s, Inc. Kinko’s and the new way to office are registered trademarks of Kinko’s ventures, Inc. All depictions of Kinko’s and its trademark are used by permission.

Click here to see the answers.  How did you do?

Let’s review some key points:

• Color draws the reader’s attention
• Too many colors can distract from your message
• Use colors to highlight things you want your audience to do or pay attention to.
• Avoid using too much color, it’s a document not a carnival, unless it is a document about a carnival
• Remember that printing in color on many of the Xerox printers and multifunction devices is comparably priced to printing in black and white.  So go ahead and add some color to your documents!

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Have you ever wondered why you choose the colors you do for your clothing or the walls in your living room?  Why you purchase a certain product over another? Some of it may have to do with Colorology, ok so it is a made up word but the Psychology of Color just sounded a little long and boring.  The psychology of color is anything but boring. Color psychology is concerned with the effects of color on mood, emotion and behavior. Understanding the way people feel about color can have an influence on the colors you choose to use in your business.  It should also come in to play when you choose colors for your business documentation and customer communications.  Remember emotion is a large component in decision making so understanding the emotions elicited by the colors you use may directly impact people’s decisions to do business with you.   

Color has been found to evoke similar feelings and thoughts in people.  It is important to understand how people react to colors and color combinations to help in your marketing and business communications.  Now the psychology of color is not an exact science as it has been found that many things will influence a person’s perception of a color, for instance, age, environment, experience, social and economic class.  Nationality also has a bearing on the perceptions of color.  Therefore it is important to understand that colors do not represent the same qualities and are not thought of in the same way by other nationalities and cultures. 

If you do business or create documents for an international audience thought must be given to how color is perceived in other countries.   For instance Green is seen as natural, financial, prosperous, growing, youthful, abundant, and healthy, in the United States.  But in Columbia for some native peoples, green is the color of death and is also regarded as ugly by some.  In Egypt green is the national color, green should not be used on packages in Egypt. It is a sacred color among Muslims. Green can mean fertility, freshness and health in the Ukraine. We have several documents that will help you to understand the feelings and emotions of color.  Please check out this page about the implications of color in the US.  Then navigate over to our international color guide.

We also have several articles available that explore the psychology of color in more depth than we can here, please click this link to explore those articles.  More information for using color in your business can be found at the bottom of the Support and Drivers page  under “Tips” in the Do more with your Xerox products section.  Leverage your color printer or multifunction device to influence your customers and partners and increase your business. 

Next week we will have one last article on color so please check back with us!!

Today let’s talk about how to use color.  Last week the article “The Importance of Color” discussed why color is important in business communication not only to draw attention but also to increase retention.  Please review the article for more information.

Okay here come the statistics again.* 

• People are 55% more likely to pick up a full color piece of mail first. By using color on the envelope, you are more likely to capture the attention of your target audience.
• Color reduces errors by 80%. Highlighting important information and instructions helps customers fill out forms or perform procedures correctly the first time.
• Reader comprehension is 14% better with highlight color than with bold text. (oops I guess I should have used color on these statistics) Presentation materials and guides are more effective if they are produced using highlight color, rather than using just bold type.
• Color improves brand recognition by up to 80%.  Businesses, Local retailers, realtors, consultants and others can cut through the clutter with the help of color. Improved brand recognition leads to increased sales!!

So color is important in all of your business communication, advertising, forms and any other document you use in your business.  But how you use color is even more  important.  Using too much color can actually have an adverse effect.  Three colors is the best number of colors to use in a document.  One color grabs less attention than two and using more than four colors distracts from the message.  Yellow and Black attracts more attention than any other color combination.**  A little color goes a long way.  Try highlighting instructions and / or due dates in color, use color to draw attention to your key message, these are just a few of the practical uses for color in your documents.  But make sure that you use color sparingly so that you do not create “visual pollution” by including too much text in color or too many colors in your documents. 

It is important to use color wisely.  Xerox printers and multifunction printers offer many models that will help you print your documents with color.  Our machines use different types of color profiles to help you achieve the colors you need to enhance your communications.  We even have some machines that use natural language to adjust your colors.  It is easy to find our color printers and multifunction devices, just select our product page and then select color to see what Xerox can offer to help you harness the power of color for your business. 

Next week join us again and we will discuss the psychology of color and what colors to use.      

*Sources:  Studies – Loyola College, Maryland, U.S.A. by Ellen Hoadley, Ph.D.; Laurette Simmons, Ph.D.; and Faith Gilroy, Ph.D., Case & Company, Management Consultants, Bureau of Advertising, Color in Newspaper Advertising, Maritz Motivation, Inc., Southern Illinois

Published material -  The Persuasive Properties of Colour, Marketing Communications; What’s Working in Direct Marketing, How to Use Color to Sell, Cahners Publishing Company, Grasp Facts Fast with Color Copying, Modern Office Procedures

** Finding Colors that Sell  By Jill Morton, color psychologist and branding expert