The alpha release is intended for testing. It complements, rather than replaces, output-device profiling and process control.
For print buyers
When comparing printers, request samples using your own artwork, ink and media. Ask which RIP settings and output profiles were used. A colorful sample alone does not establish repeatability across materials.
What the release is
PRINTING United Alliance has published PRINTWide 2026a Alpha, an experimental colour profile for evaluating wider-gamut CMYK workflows, with G7+ brought into that testing.
It is an alpha release intended for testing. It complements, rather than replaces, output-device profiling and process control — the two things that decide whether a printer reproduces colour predictably.
What a colour profile can and cannot do
A profile describes how a specific device, ink and media combination reproduces colour. It is a description, not a correction: it cannot fix a drifting machine, an inconsistent ink batch, or media that changes between deliveries.
Process control comes first. Linearisation, ink limits and routine checks establish that the machine prints the same way today as it did last week. Only on top of that does a profile, an ICC or the new alpha, deliver anything repeatable.
This is why a vivid sample on its own proves little. A sample shows what one machine did once, with one set of settings, on one batch of material.
How to use this when you are buying
Ask for samples printed on your own artwork and your own material, and ask which RIP settings and which output profile were used to produce them. A supplier who can answer that is describing a repeatable process.
Then ask for the same job twice, separated in time. Repeatability across two runs tells you more about a supplier than the best single sample they can produce.
Colour management is one of the few parts of a printing purchase that costs nothing extra to get right at the start and a great deal to fix afterwards.
Source: PRINTING United Alliance ·
