One of the biggest areas of saving for commercial printers has been the shift from hard to soft copy proofing. But how useful is soft-proofing for printers of wide-format work? For companies producing lots of quick turnaround monochrome signs and displays, cheaply if not cheerfully, proofing at all is probably a matter of content checking, rather than anything else. However the requirements for production proofing get more worrisome the further up the quality and price scale you go. If you are producing a lot of top-notch colour work, chances are you have a proofing need.

Of course the perfect proof is a press proof on the substrate used for the final proof. For a run of one, this doubles production costs. Alternatively you can proof to a previously printed example, but this brings with it problems relating to lightfastness and the effects of substrate degradation over time. Soft-proofing obviates these problems and it requires no output consumables, since it takes place on the monitor.

The monitor is both input and output device in a colour-managed workflow, so it is absolutely essential that it is calibrated and characterised. If you want to implement soft-proofing in a wider context, make sure that your customers or service providers are also aware of the three Cs of colour management: calibrate, characterise, convert. The goal should be a workflow that simulates the expected print result on the monitor, using dedicated soft-proofing software. There are various options available, but one that is often used for sign- and display-making is GMG's. GMG has developed a version of its colour server software suite specifically for wide-format applications. It includes preconfigured hot folders and colour profiles and is fully automated.

Soft-proofing is a great way of cutting costs and time-consuming tasks, but it has to be managed within a complete colour management system using applied ICC techniques and with controlled lighting conditions. Lighting should ideally be standardised and be as close as possible to daylight. This means illuminants of D50 or D65 depending on if work is mostly for external or internal work, and of course depending on where and when the sign is to be viewed. Make sure to match the monitor's intensity with the lighting of what you are trying to match and remember that the soft proof on screen is a simulation of the photo, print or artwork that is in your viewing booth, so lighting is critical.