Comprising the Designers Guide to LFP and a CA Test form, the Quality Assurance Kit (QAK) provides the tools to ensure optimum files are created and submitted by clients and that printers' RIPs and colour management settings are set up correctly.

To ensure wide-format results match other output processes the CA Test Form includes a reference print produced according to Fogra’s offset specification.

"A prerequisite for printing quality is the quality of the supplied data," said Color Alliance chief executive Andre Kapsa. "The best medium and the best printer are of no use at all if the print data is poor."

The 50-page guide covers the applications for wide-format printing and the technologies used, as well as details on viewing distance, resolution, colour mode and file formats to help designers supply jobs set up appropriately for the application.

The test form contains elements to visually evaluate tonal range, resolution and banding along with transparency, overlay, overprint, spot colours, gradients and clipping paths to assess RIP performance.

"It’s an acid test for every RIP," said Kapsa.

Colour management specialist Blindbrain-Color Solutions of Balingen, Germany cooperated with the Color Alliance to produce the test form.

The Designer’s Guide to LFP can be downloaded from the Color Alliance website, while the QAK can be ordered from the Color Alliance, or from a CA partner.

The Color Alliance is a consortium of wide-format media firms, including Erfurt, Heytex, Mitsubishi and Neschen, which use a standardised coating for their media to reduce the number of colour profiles needed to ensure colour consistency across different substrates.