PD ISO PAS 15339 — Graphic Technology Printing from Digital Data Across Multiple Technologies (ISO/PAS 15339)

🎨 PD ISO/PAS 15339 is a BSI Published Document implementing ISO/PAS 15339 in the UK, developed by Technical Committee PAI/43 (Graphic technology). The series centres on “printing from digital data across multiple technologies“, addressing the colour and tone inconsistency that arises when the same digital file is printed on different device types (inkjet, electrophotography, offset, flexography, gravure, and so on). This batch covers two parts: Part 1 (Principles) and Part 2 (Characterized reference printing conditions, CRPC1–CRPC7). The first establishes the concepts and methods; the second provides directly usable reference targets for colour conversion — a key tool for colour-management standardisation and cross-technology consistency in the printing industry.

1. Series Background and Positioning 📌

Traditional printing colour management (for example the ISO 12647 series) is based on a specific process such as offset, defining paper, ink, and colorimetric targets for that process. However, the rapid growth of digital printing introduced many new processes (inkjet, electrophotography, etc.) with different separation, gamut, and dot-gain behaviour, so a single “reference condition” model could not cover all output devices. ISO/PAS 15339 was developed against this backdrop as a new working method: separating the “preparation of digital data” from the “output of a specific device”, and connecting them through a set of characterized reference printing conditions (CRPC).

As a Publicly Available Specification (PAS), ISO/PAS 15339 sits between a full international standard and industry practice — a shorter development cycle and a focused scope allow it to respond quickly to technical change. The UK publishes it as a Published Document, and the document likewise states that “this publication does not purport to include all the necessary provisions of a contract” and that users are responsible for its correct application; it is a voluntary technical document.

2. Series File List 📋

The PD ISO/PAS 15339 series files covered in this batch are listed below. Each document is compact yet self-contained; Part 2 additionally carries a normative Annex A (Tone value increase) and data-file guidance.

3. Principles (Part 1) 🔧

Part 1 defines the conceptual framework and requirements on which the series relies. Key aspects include:

• Principles and assumptions: establishes the basic assumption that “printing data should be prepared against reference printing conditions”, and describes the division of responsibilities between data preparation and device output.
• Data encoding: specifies the colour-encoding approach and data-exchange format requirements, ensuring different software and devices interpret the same data correctly.
• Data preparation: guides designers in converting original images and graphics into digital files conforming to the chosen reference printing condition, including colour conversion, tone mapping, and separation.
• Output mapping: explains how a printing device maps data from the reference condition to its own gamut, preserving visual consistency as far as possible and handling out-of-gamut colours.

The reason for establishing “principles” first is that cross-technology consistency is not purely a technical matter — it involves redefining roles in the workflow: designers no longer prepare files for a specific printing press, but for a unified, interchangeable “reference condition”.

4. Characterized Reference Printing Conditions (Part 2) 🖨️

Part 2 is the core and practical part of ISO/PAS 15339, defining seven characterized reference printing conditions, CRPC1–CRPC7. Each CRPC defines the colorimetric characteristics and tone-value-increase behaviour associated with a “typical printing capability” — effectively a set of “standardised printing targets”:

• CRPC1–CRPC4: cover typical offset and digital printing gamuts on paper grades from newsprint-like to coated and high-gloss coated stock, with gamut increasing progressively.
• CRPC5–CRPC7: cover extended gamut (e.g. wide-gamut inkjet) and special printing media, with further expanded gamut for more saturated colours.

Each CRPC is described by data files characterising its colorimetric properties, linked to parameters such as humidity and tone value increase, so colour-management systems can read and perform conversion. Normative Annex A (Tone value increase) of Part 2 defines the tone value increase and its calculation method, ensuring a common basis for how devices handle “dot gain” when reproducing a reference condition.

5. Engineering Practice Applications 🛠️

• Multi-device colour unification: advertising, publishing, and packaging printers use CRPC as a common colour target, bringing inkjet proofing, digital printing, and production offset closer in colour.
• Soft proofing and remote approval: design agencies prepare files to CRPC and soft-proof on calibrated monitors, so client-approved colour experience matches the printed result more closely.
• Colour management workflow redesign: changing conversion from “device-to-device” to “device-to-reference-condition” simplifies the colour management chain and reduces accuracy loss from successive conversions.
• Device acceptance and characterisation: suppliers can characterise and accept printing devices against a reference condition, quantifying the gap between device gamut and the reference.

The typical implementation steps are: first determine the output device’s gamut capability and choose a suitable CRPC; then prepare digital data per Part 1; finally configure an ICC conversion profile on the device (mapping the reference condition to the device gamut), and calibrate and verify before production.

6. Frequently Asked Questions ❓