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By: Erik Vlietinck
Thu, May 01, 2008 - 7:55:00

Eye-One Pro Design with UV filter costs approx. 700.00 EUR, while the ProfileMaker Publish package deal would cost 2,150.00 EUR. ColorMunki Design costs approx. 450.00 EUR.

Based on cost alone, the ColorMunki Design is a clear winner. However, in the assessment of cost-effectiveness, we should also look at the output results of the systems, their efficiency and the lifecycle of the software. Starting with the latter, the lifecycle of Eye-One Match and ProfileMaker runs over more than 12 months. This means users will get free updates for a longer period than ColorMunki Design which will probably (we couldn’t get a clear answer to the lifecycle question from Pantone) be as short as “ordinary” software.

The upgrade path for ColorMunki Design is also unknown at present --the software uses the measuring instrument as a virtual dongle. It is unknown whether the software will be upgradeable by itself, or whether users are supposed to buy a whole new system when new software is released. This could certainly be the case if the hardware is upgraded as well --however small the improvements might be.

The upgrade path for Ee-One Match 3 and certainly for ProfileMaker is known. It follows the same rules as any other software.

The output of both software components is equally good, but ColorMunki Design supports creative processes better and is easier and faster to handle and maintain. The cost-effectiveness of ColorMunki Design is therefore superior to that of Eye-One Pro Design. The latter can only handle calibration and profiling and creative support is lacklustre, if not non-existent.

The efficiency of ColorMunki Design is therefore also better than that of the Eye-One Pro Design package. ColorMunki Design finally also supports an open standard exchange file format (CxF 2.0) that is more robust than the version supported by the free i1 Share program.

Although I find it impossible to offer an accurate financial value statement, in view of the above, ColorMunki Design’s actual value for a designer lies somewhere in-between Eye-One Pro Design and Eye-One Pro with ProfileMaker Publish. In other words, ColorMunki Design definitely offers more value for the money to its target market than the Eye-One Design offering.

Basic Risk Analysis

What if a designer wouldn’t buy a ColorMunki Design solution, or an Eye-One Pro Design system?

If a designer wouldn’t buy either system --no colour management workflow system at all-- he or she could never tell whether colours in a file, displayed on their monitor, would match those in the final output. A designer would not even be sure which spot colour would truly match the one seen on-screen. In one word: colour trustworthiness would be missing from that designer’s working environment.

If a designer would buy Eye-One Pro Designer, instead of ColorMunki Designer, the colour management workflow problem would be solved at the cost of a considerable investment in time (to learn) and money. Furthermore, the risk that is solved by the ColorMunki Design PrintSafe and AppSet functionality would still exist. This would mean an extra effort (paying more attention to details) on the part of the designer.

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