Understanding the role of print quality in perceived printer quality

As difficult as it may be for the imaging science community to accept, there is more to perceived color printer quality than print quality. For a moment, place the magnifying loupe aside and check the colorimeter at the door - this paper takes a look at the bigger picture. Several other attributes influence the likelihood a potential customer will select one printer over another. The following paragraphs discuss a set of attributes that more completely characterize overall printer quality. Attributes considered relate to print quality, cost, speed, and reliability. Printers used in the experiment span the technologies commonly found in the business color printing market: electrophotographic, solid ink, and drop-on-demand ink jet. Psychometric evaluation methods are employed both to quantify the print quality of test samples as well as to develop the relationships between the chosen attributes. Examples are given of how such an understanding of these interrelationships may provide guidance in making trade-offs during the design process. In conclusion, the authors highlight their estimate of the importance of print quality to printer purchase likelihood.