Before you consider entering your newspaper for WAN-Ifra’s International Newspaper Color Quality Club – the next cycle of which runs from 2010-2012 – check how good your colour quality is.

Organisers of the competition are offering the opportunity to check against recognised standards before committing to take part. Held at two-year intervals, the INCQC is open to newspapers from all over the world, with categories ensuring that all printing processes and materials can be taken into account.

Available at www.ifra.com/qualitycheck are two ways in which newspapers can assess the current quality level of their printing production:

• A ‘self-check’ offers a free online tool that you can use to judge your colour printing quality. For this, you print the Ifra Cuboid test element, and measure the printed samples. Results are then input to an online form and in due course, Ifra will provide a detailed report on colour quality. The informational value of the results is based on the precision with which the individual measurements were carried out.

• A more comprehensive ‘colour quality Ifra check’ involves evaluation of printed samples by Ifra, and also covers colour register accuracy. Measuring is done at the Ifra laboratory under standardised conditions, resulting in higher informational value. This check costs 150 Euros (A$265) or 90 Euros for Ifra members.

Again complete instruction, the Ifra Cuboid test element and the online form for recording the measured data can be downloaded from www.ifra.com/qualitycheck, while the latest information about INCQC events are at www.colorqualityclub.org

Project leader Roland Thees – email roland.thees@wan-ifra.org – can answer queries about the content and organisation of the INCQC competition.