SIST-TS ISO TS 15311-2:2020

TECHNICAL ISO/TS
SPECIFICATION 15311-2
First edition
2018-10
Graphic technology — Print quality
requirements for printed matter —
Part 2:
Commercial print applications
utilizing digital printing technologies
Reference number
©
ISO 2018
© ISO 2018
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ii © ISO 2018 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Requirements . 2
4.1 General . 2
4.1.1 Applications . 2
4.1.2 Measurement . 2
4.1.3 Data reference communication . 2
4.2 Print quality measures . 3
4.2.1 Overview . 3
4.2.2 Colour and tone reproduction and surface finish. 3
4.2.3 Homogeneity . 5
4.2.4 Detail rendition capabilities . 6
4.2.5 Artefacts . 6
4.2.6 Permanence . . 6
Annex A (informative) Partial colour reference (PCR) . 8
Annex B (normative) Control strip from ISO 12647-8 . 9
Annex C (informative) .10
Annex D (informative) Specified targets and suggested tolerance ranges for digital printing
metrics in all markets .14
Bibliography .20
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www .iso .org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www .iso .org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the
World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see www .iso
.org/iso/foreword .html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 130, Graphic technology.
A list of all parts in the ISO/TS 15311 series can be found on the ISO website.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www .iso .org/members .html.
iv © ISO 2018 – All rights reserved

Introduction
0.1 General
When producing a colour reproduction, it is important that the persons responsible for data creation,
colour separation, proofing and printing operations have previously agreed to a set of parameters
that define the visual characteristics and other technical properties of the planned print product. It
is equally important that they have agreed to the method that will be used to verify that the printed
output meets these aims and tolerances. This document identifies the minimum essential metrics and
optional metrics for analysing printing output produced for the general commercial print marketplace.
This marketplace has evolved in recent years from using classical reproduction processes such as
offset, letterpress, gravure, screen printing and flexography to include the many varied digital printing
systems that are being developed to meet a wide range of potential needs depending on how the user
chooses to prioritize speed, quality and cost. Along with and commensurate with this change has been a
shift in technical emphasis from using quality control of the printing process and expecting statistically
based predictable printing results to using colour management and other inherent measures of print
quality directly on the printed page. ISO/TS 15311-1 helps identify these metrics.
This document deals with the assessment of printed sheets and does not consider how the process of
printing the sheets is controlled. For reference, those methods for process control for conventional print
processes are described in ISO 12647-2 to ISO 12647-6. Additionally, ISO/PAS ISO 15339 establishes
principles for the use of colour characterization data as the definition of the intended relationship
between input data and printed colour in all printing applications. There is no ISO standard for process
control for digital printing; the inherent process control method is generally specified by the digital
printing system manufacturer. No matter what method is used for process control, this document may
be used to assess the printed results.
With this in mind, this document is intended to aid the printer and their customer, the print buyer,
to define the inherent quality of the sheet using targets that can be included directly on the sheet
(including the margin trim waste) or at least implied by the content of the images on the sheet itself.
It is intended to be a more direct approach to relate digital printing to visual results while achieving
the same quality levels of consistency that the industry has come to know and trust in their process
controlled printed sheet. While this document is necessary for any digital printing system output due
to the lack of a process control standard for digital printing, it could also be used to assess the resultant
quality of any printed sheet that had been printed using process control methods from any of the
classical printing processes if the printer and print buyer have previously agreed.
More importantly, because of the wide range of digital printing devices in terms of speed, quality, run
length and sheet or board size, and the equally wide range of quality needs in the various printing
market places, there presently is no cross-market agreement as to what constitutes “acceptable” quality.
This document gives guidance in applying the appropriate metrics to develop custom tolerances for
assessing printing system output, but it does not suggest specific acceptable quality levels. While it has
many of the same metrics as ISO 12647-7 and ISO 12647-8, those standards include aims and tolerances
limited to specified proofing application which are generally much tighter quality levels than normal
digital printing.
The metrics involved in this document have been selected from ISO/TS 15311-1. In a few cases if
representative metrics, for necessary aspects of judging quality such as legibility, are not included in
ISO/TS 15311-1, suggested metrics have been drawn from other sources. All specified metrics are
directly measureable on the printed sheet. Some suggested metrics, including more comprehensive
targets, which are at least indirectly measureable on another sheet printed on the same unit at
approximately the same time as the subject sheet, indicate the state that the process was in at the time
of printing. This document also includes other optional metrics for anyone who desires to analyse other
aspects of the printed sheet that are not essential to everyday transactions and which may require
special tests conducted in sophisticated laboratories. These will probably be used only to compare the
capabilities of various digital printing systems.
Since the role and the process of digital printing are both rapidly evolving, as indicated above, the
printer and print buyer must jointly agree on the expected quality range for each of the required tests
in advance of their printed job. Because there are many different types of digital printing equipment,
specific machine expectations must come from the manufacturers of each piece of equipment.
0.2 Identification of suitable colour metrics
When selecting the set of metrics to be included in this document, only those metrics that have a clear
definition and that correlate well with human perception are used. Since this is an area of significant
research activity we expect many new metrics to emerge in the next few years. For this reason we
anticipate the need to revise this document within a very short time scale as new metrics are tested
and found to be reliable.
In many cases the existing standards use CIE dEab rather than CIEDE2000. Although these are not
interchangeable quantities, dEab has been superseded by CIEDE2000 in ISO TC 130 standards and in
this document. Similarly, printing density is seldom used to measure colour and where the referenced
standards specify printing density we have used CIELab colour measurement.
0.3 Reporting schema
As with any parameter that is used as part of a product specification it is important for readers to
understand clearly what the metric means. For this reason ISO/TS 15311-1 includes a reporting schema
that should be followed when reporting measurements in conformance with this document. This
document includes optional reporting forms.
vi © ISO 2018 – All rights reserved

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION ISO/TS 15311-2:2018(E)
Graphic technology — Print quality requirements for
printed matter —
Part 2:
Commercial print applications utilizing digital printing
technologies
1 Scope
This document gives guidance to print buyers and other users of print for assessing printed products
on isotropic substrates that are typically
...