Graybar concepts were developed in cooperation with the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation during the early 1980s.

At that time, most color newspaper pages were set by the pressman’s eye. It was a method that worked with reasonable success, but produced varied results due to individual preferences.

Enter the graybar. It represented a different approach. Now, press operators could use the relative grayness of the bar to determine when color inks were in balance. This approach also helped the prepress department better understand and learn what was required in the scanner separation process.

The graybar concept was straightforward: Use a dot-size balance that, when printed with the correct solid ink densities, would print gray.

This would enable the press operator to create the best color contrast while still holding detail in the mid- and three-quarter tones.

In the page layout, the graybar was positioned across the page ink columns and densitometers were used to read and adjust the process color inks to specific ink density values.

Early trials

One of the early tests, conducted at the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, tried to determine the maximum ink density that could be printed with each of the inks while still holding to reasonable dot gains.

The numbers measured were close to the current Specification for Newsprint Advertising Production, or SNAP, solid ink standards of 0.90 cyan, 0.90 magenta and 0.85 yellow. Because USA Today also came up with similar results, it was decided to round off the numbers to make the measurements more straightforward.

The early GATF newspaper test forms included a three-color gray balance target that a newspaper could use to determine the dot sizes it would use in the makeup of its own custom newspaper graybar.

The first GATF newspaper test form was run at the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel. Our testing at that time indicated a target of 40 percent cyan, 31 percent magenta and 29 percent yellow would work quite well in most newspaper situations.

Since imagesetters, platemaking and general densitometer measuring techniques were not perfect, we decided to recommend that newspapers use a 40/30/30 graybar as the standard.

In order to sell the concept to editorial, newspapers were allowed to select a bar of lighter grays or even tinted grays.

The main point was to sell a concept where densitometers could be used to balance the ink densities of the printing inks on the production-printed page. The darker 40/30/30 graybars were preferred, as they are closer to the mid-tone dot range while minimizing the effects of paper as a percentage of the measured density.

It is now some 20 years later and the graybar concept has stood the test of time. It should be noted that many aspects of the printing process have seen improvements. Our inks have changed along with rollers, blankets and plates. Our dot sizes on the plate are much more predictable and the instruments in use, including the scanning densitometer, allow for more accurate measurement.

With this in mind, I suggest we need to revisit some of the earlier concepts.

It is now common to use color management techniques to create ICC profiles of newspaper color reproduction as a means to produce more accurate and consistent color. Since the density range on newsprint is very small compared to heatset printing we need to make sure these profiles are created under the best color contrast printing potential.

Dot makeup

One of the more important areas in accomplishing this goal lies in the dot makeup of the graybar. If you are now using a 40/30/30 graybar with a density target of 0.65, 0.65, and 0.65 for each of the inks, but your solid ink densities are not printing to their best potential, then a change needs to be made.

You should go back and recreate some of the earlier tests and be willing to adopt new standards. This means fine-tuning your graybar to achieve optimum solid ink density.

As an example, your graybar might be better defined as a 40 percent cyan, 32 percent magenta and 29 percent yellow if this helps to accomplish the task of creating the correct solid ink density balance. You could also run your inks to higher density values if the cost and printing improvements make sense.

Graybars are as valuable a tool for achieving optimum color quality in newsprint today as they were when the concept was originated. We now have finer controls, better instruments, advanced ICC software and, therefore, opportunities to improve. Let’s make the best of it by taking a second look at the value that a good graybar can have on the quality of reproduction.