The new system, xColor, has been in development for three years and is aimed at everyone on the print supply chain, from brand owners and designers through to printers.
The system is built to complement users' existing workflow, can connect to internal systems, and allows for third-party integrations with file storage and management vendors.
All colour profiles in xColor are connected by RGB/CMYK to CMYK DeviceLink profiles for consistency. Supporting the PDF/X-4 standard, it normalises the contents of elements found in a PDF to ISO Coated v2 then converts the normalised elements to users' intended colour output.
The software also allows for integration with online sharing systems, such as Dropbox, for seamless transference of files across businesses globally.
“We have been working around print clients for around 10 years and have heard demands for a CMS that is lower in price, easily integrated and lightspeed-quick,” said chief executive Simon Murray.
“Through xColor, clients are well connected virtually anywhere and require no dongles or licence keys to access the platform, which is entirely cloud-based and uses a web interface.
“Customers can continue to use the service for as long or short as they like and only pay on a month-by-month basis. We have approached the CMS market in a way that puts us at an accessible, market-leading price point compared to our competition.”
It is available on a software-as-a-service basis for $49 (around £37) per month, although interested parties can take advantage of a 30-day free trial before purchasing. The trial version gives users access to a number of xColor’s capabilities, including queue and conversion management, unlimited colour conversion, a wide range of profiles and Dropbox integration.
Additional functionality to suit the needs of larger enterprises can be added on, and Specle said it intends to develop more colour profiles and further features to satisfy the requirements of customers with different software or printing equipment as the project is rolled out.
Murray said that xColor was designed to “democratise” colour conversion because of a lack of skilled colour professionals. “Now those skills are harder to find, people need the tools to do that work themselves, and xColor is one tool to make that happen,” he said.
