Enhancing Your Brand with Digimarc Barcode | Testing and Evaluating Enhancement

09 April 2021

It is critical that you test the readability and evaluate the perceptibility of Digimarc Barcodes in your enhanced packages.

Introduction
Point-of-sale Scanners, Mobile Devices, and Color
Designing for Digimarc Barcode for Packaging
Testing and Evaluating Enhancement

Testing and Evaluating Enhancement

It is critical that you test the readability and evaluate the perceptibility of Digimarc Barcodes in your enhanced packages. To test readability, establish a process that is objective, empirical, and repeatable. Your goal is to mimic the conditions in which your packages will be scanned by POS scanners and, if applicable, mobile devices. The desired outcome is that the Digimarc Barcodes in your packages are readable quickly and reliably under all expected conditions. Digimarc has established protocols for testing readability and can assist you in setting up your own testing protocols. Please contact Support for assistance.

Evaluating perceptibility of Digimarc Barcodes in enhanced packages is a more subjective process. Different people often evaluate perceptibility differently in the same package and, in particular, trained eyes may detect the presence of the Barcode where untrained eyes may not. You cannot rely solely on one set of eyes to evaluate perceptibility. Evaluate perceptibility under realistic lighting conditions and at realistic viewing distances. Also be aware of which parts of a package naturally attract the viewer’s eye and evaluate perceptibility closely in those areas.

Test readability and evaluate perceptibility at every stage of the production process. The earlier you can make adjustments, the less costly it is to do so. However, don’t assume that early testing and evaluation is sufficient — your final tests and evaluation should be of initial press sheets from the production run of printing the package.

Evaluation and Test Procedures

Digimarc and its certified partners follow a strict protocol in testing and evaluating enhanced package designs before delivering artwork to the client for production.

• The final artwork is digitally and visually compared to the original artwork to ensure that no content has changed.
• The enhanced package is digitally checked against the supplied 1D barcode to confirm that the applied Digimarc Barcode matches the 1D barcode.

Proofs are converted to final form and scanned by reference mobile devices and a POS scanner to guarantee readability.

• For the POS scanner, Digimarc Barcodes must be readable on first or second scan. It must also be readable in a variety of positions relative to the scanner.
• For mobile devices, Digimarc Barcodes must be readable within 3 seconds. If Digimarc Barcode coverage is not 100%, the enhanced areas should be areas that customers would naturally scan.

After internal testing and evaluation, the enhanced package artwork is delivered to the client and the client’s printer. The printer should provide the client with a calibrated proof from their system for final review and approval.

Using Proofs

Accurate proofing requires that the proofing profile of the production printing press be employed. Without an accurate color profile, the final printed design may not match the proof in either readability or perceptibility of Digimarc Barcodes (aside from possibly not matching in color).

At Digimarc, proofs are printed on semi-matte paper with printers calibrated using GMG industry-standard calibration software. Most printers use a similar system and paper stock for proofs, with simulations of other packaging substrates as needed. This system is standard for proofing for offset printing, flexography, and gravure printing onto paper stocks.

It is a reality in the printing industry that proofing is difficult with substrates such as film or aluminum. With clear and reflective films, printing on white ink is a common practice, and white ink density in the production environment can easily differ from that of the proof. Silver metallics and aluminum reflect as black to POS scanners, and printing non-opaque inks on these surfaces changes their reflectance properties. Predicting the readability and perceptibility of Digimarc Barcodes in these circumstances requires experience.

Even though proofing for some environments is imprecise, proofs can be invaluable in gaining experience about how your proofs correlate with results from specific printers, presses, and substrates. Over time, comparing your proofs with prints from production runs can increase your confidence in predicting final printed Digimarc Barcode quality for known printers, presses, and substrates.

Final Testing and Evaluation

Digimarc provides printers with instructions for handling packages enhanced with Digimarc Barcodes. In general, the printer simply prints the package as supplied to them using the press environment specified in their ICC color profile. However, client and printer should both be aware of this critical instruction:

Existing artwork or plates should not be used in printing an enhanced package.

Only the artwork delivered from Digimarc or a certified partner can be used to print an enhanced package. Using existing artwork or plates — no matter how similar they appear to the enhanced package artwork — can result in a final package with a weakened Digimarc Barcode, no Digimarc Barcode, multiple Digimarc Barcodes, or a mismatch between the traditional 1D barcode and the Digimarc Barcode. Use the Digimarc Verify mobile application and the Digimarc Scanner Verify desktop application throughout proofing and printing to confirm that the correct and only the correct Digimarc Barcode is present in the enhanced package.