Voluntary Standards Cover the Spectrum: from Ophthalmics to Color Printing

In an effort to communicate the vital role that standards play in daily life, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) will publish, on an ongoing basis, a series of snapshots of the diverse standards initiatives undertaken in the global and national standards arena, many of which are performed by ANSI members and ANSI-accredited standards developers. Two of the latest selections follow:

Ophthalmics

According to the Vision Council, an ANSI accredited standards developer and organizational member, approximately 75% of American adults use some type of vision correction: 64% wear eyeglasses and 11% wear contact lenses. In order to protect both the patients who wear glasses and the lens manufacturers who make them, the Vision Council recently published ANSI Z80.1-2010, Ophthalmics - Prescription Spectacle Lenses.

The revised American National Standard provides guidelines for eyewear manufacturers to follow prior to the delivery of finished eyewear to the patient. ANSI Z80.1-2010 includes updates to the measurement of transmission power, the use of compensated power, lens durability, lens abrasion resistance, and anti-reflective coating.

Dedicated to enhancing life through better vision, the Vision Council represents the manufacturers and suppliers of the optical industry through advocacy and the promotion of quality vision care products and services in the global community. As a non-profit membership organization, the Vision Council offers research and training to the industry and serves as a liaison with consumers, providing education about the importance of vision care and the options in vision care products.

Color Printing

Color printing was invented in the 1890s when newspapers began to publish color comic strips. While there are many techniques for reproducing color images today, four-color process printing is a widely used method throughout the commercial printing industry. Through this process, the original image is separated into four color values: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK). Each of the four inks is then printed on paper in layers of dots to create the illusion of many more colors, resulting in the reproduction of the original full-color image.

A revised American National Standard from the Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies (NPES), defines a data set of ink value combinations that may be used to characterize four-color process printing. ANSI IT8.7/4-2005 (R2010), Graphic technology - Input data for characterization of 4-color process printing - Expanded data set, is a data set designed to be robust enough for all general types of printing, including publication, commercial, and package printing with offset lithography, gravure, flexography, and other processes. While it is primarily aimed at process color printing with CMYK inks, it may also be used with any combination of three chromatic inks and a dark ink.

NPES, an ANSI-accredited standards developer and organizational member, is a trade association of over 400 companies that manufacture and distribute equipment, systems, software, and supplies used in printing, publishing, and converting.