The objective of color management is to represent, control, and communicate color within and among color-imaging systems. Numerous methods claiming to provide "device-independent" color have not proven in practice to be completely successful. This course sets forth the basic principles of digitally representing color-image information for the successful management of color in imaging systems. Two fundamentally different methods of representing color images are explored: scene-based and rendered-image-based color encoding. Three basic color-management paradigms describing the different behaviors of various types of color-imaging systems are discussed. A unified color-management paradigm is described which, together with its unique appearance-based color encoding, offers a comprehensive solution to the difficult problem of managing color in today's complex color-imaging systems. Example systems, ranging from the most simple to the complex, illustrate the practical application of the unified paradigm.

The principal objectives of color management are to represent, control, and communicate color within and among color-imaging systems. Numerous color-management methods, attempting to meet these objectives, have claimed to provide "device-independent" color, and therefore to be appropriate for all imaging systems and applications. In practice, however, none of these attempts has proven completely successful. This course will set forth the basic principles required to understand successful color imaging and color management. Color fundamentals will be explored as they relate specifically to the design of imaging media, devices, and color-management systems. Topics will include image capture, signal processing, and image display. A number of important perceptual phenomena will be demonstrated. The color properties of various imaging media and devices will be investigated, and the relevance of all these topics to color management will be discussed. The capabilities and limitations of several methods for managing color will be considered. A "universal" color-management paradigm will then be described which, together with its unique appearance-based color encoding, offers a comprehensive solution to the difficult problems of managing color in today's complex electronic and hybrid color-imaging systems.