The Flemish Innovation Centre for Graphic Communication (VIGC) says it has carried out a study that has found that the accepted total area coverage (TAC) for deep blacks of between 320 and 360 percent is excessive. The research found that 260 to 220 percent 'is more than adequate', if the correct profiles are used with the conversions.

"We wanted to find out how low you can go in terms of maximum ink coverage before you see an unacceptable difference," comments Eddy Hagen, VIGC director. The final result was amazing. The old truth – that you need between 320 percent and 360 percent TAC – is not borne out, provided you convert colours correctly."

He continues: "The cost of ink represents around two to five percent of the cost of the printed material. So imagine that if on the basis of this investigation a company can reduce its ink consumption by ten percent, we're talking about saving more than 6m to 15m euros here in Belgium alone.

"The turnover of the print industry worldwide is estimated at more than 400bn euros, so if you apply the lower TAC principle on this level, the savings equates to more than a billion euros."