By Cassandra Balentine
Understanding how to manage color is essential to many wide format print service providers (PSPs). However, with sustainable options like PVC-free media this task often becomes more challenging.
Here we highlight several color management tools targeting wide format print providers.
Canon U.S.A., Inc.
While Canon partners closely with Onyx Graphics, Inc., the Colorado M-series and Arizona flatbed series features an open architecture through the Canon API program, making it compatible with multiple RIP and color management solutions including Caldera, EFI, and others.
What truly sets the Colorado M-series apart is the synergy between the printer, the UVgel 460 inks, and PRISMAguide XL software. This combination helps enable ‘“first-time right” printing, significantly reducing media waste—a key priority for any shop focused on sustainability.
Fiery, LLC
The Fiery Color Profiler Suite offers a professional color management for all.
Color Profiler Suite is a 100 percent Fiery-developed color management solution fully integrated with Fiery XF. Full integration means there is no need to step outside the Fiery workspace to manage color. Bi-directional communication with the RIP ensures that every step of the color management process is seamless—eliminating the need to manually switch color management on or off or place files in specific folders to ensure proper setup. As eco-friendly media often requires custom calibration and profiling for each media type—and frequently for each resolution as well—this level of integration makes efficient, accurate color management practical and achievable, rather than complex and time consuming. In addition, unique functionality such as multi-spot measurements with data averaging improve profile accuracy, and ICC lookup tables with smoothing compensates for uneven ink lay down and substrate surface variations.
Fiery ColorGuard is a cloud-based color control solution.
ColorGuard automatically notifies operators when verifications are due, ensuring they are never missed, and provides alerts if results fall outside tolerance—allowing corrective action to be taken quickly and keeping production on track. Because eco-friendly media can be more variable and sensitive than traditional PVC substrates, maintaining tight control over color accuracy and consistency is critical. With ColorGuard, PSPs can reduce waste, increase customer satisfaction, and confidently demonstrate color compliance—regardless of the media being used. Fiery ColorGuard is available for Fiery XF 9 users at no charge until the start of 2027.
HP Inc.
HP Latex printers—including the 730 and 830 Series—have an on-board HP spectrophotometer and color profiling engine. This simplifies and streamlines the process of profiling front lit media, by leveraging the internal spectrophotometer and ICC color engine. This often reduces the entire print mode creation to 30 minutes of machine time, including a custom linearization/color calibration and a custom ICC profile. The Latex printer prints the chart, dries the ink, and measures the chart in minutes, freeing the operator from the task of measuring hundreds of swatches by hand. External measurement devices can also be used for transmissive or fabric medias.
Onyx Graphics, Inc.
ONYX enables consistent color across multiple printers, ink technologies, and eco-friendly media types, reducing waste, reprints, and operator dependency.
Print providers choose ONYX because eco-friendly printing demands more than theoretical color accuracy—demands control, efficiency, and repeatability.
ONYX delivers predictable color on variable substrates, reduced ink consumption and waste, stable neutrals and brand colors, and scalable workflows for growing eco-media portfolios.
Eco-friendly substrates don’t have to mean compromised color or productivity. With ONYX color management, process control, large-aperture measurement support, and GCR Plus technology, print providers can confidently expand into sustainable materials while maintaining the quality, consistency, and efficiency their customers expect.
SAi
For the eco-friendly textile market, SAi has several products that allow the user to design a project and apply halftones with just one click. What makes this special is that the user can update or balance the strategic removal of inks and preview the results in real time. This helps limit lost time in recalculating halftones and having to re-render the image each time there is a change. In addition, it allows users to create their own custom ICC profiles with advanced options that allow control of the ink levels that work best for every application.
swissQprint
Swiss engineering paired with RIP software and spectrophotometers creates an ecosystem for color management success.
Viesus AG
Viesus operates as the “invisible backbone” of high-volume imaging workflows. It is not a RIP or a profiling tool; instead, it functions as an automated enhancement layer that optimizes image data before it enters the RIP.
Featuring device-independent optimization, Viesus’ enhancement remains neutral. Whether printing on high-end inkjet systems, canvas, or recycled textiles, it ensures the source data is balanced, sharp, and artifact-free.
Ink-saving efficiency also comes into play. By intelligently correcting underexposed areas and managing saturation, it reduces over-inking on sensitive eco-substrates—contributing to the documented ink savings of up to 15 percent.
Viesus also helps users achieve automation at scale. The company processes tens of millions of images daily for global leaders such as CEWE. In wide format environments, this enables providers to offer Viesus-enhanced quality on sustainable media as a fully automated premium service—without adding manual retouching time.
May2026, Digital Output
