ISO Coated v2 (ECI).

If you print offset in Europe on coated stock and nobody has told you otherwise, this is almost certainly the profile you want. ISO Coated v2 is the European Color Initiative’s implementation of ISO 12647-2, built on the FOGRA39L characterisation data set, and it has been the continent’s working default for coated sheetfed and web offset for well over a decade.

Which variant to use

There are two files, and picking the wrong one is the most common mistake:

• ISOcoated_v2_eci.icc has a total ink limit of 330%. It is the general-purpose version and the right starting point for sheetfed offset on good paper.
• ISOcoated_v2_300_eci.icc limits total ink to 300%. Use it when your printer asks for it, which usually means web offset, faster presses, or stock that will not take 330% without setting off or blocking.

If your print provider has given you a number, follow their number. If they have not, ask before assuming: 30% of total area coverage is a lot of ink to be wrong about, and it shows up as slow drying and marking rather than as anything you would catch on screen.

What it is not

ISO Coated v2 is not the newest European standard. PSO Coated v3 supersedes it, based on the FOGRA51 characterisation, and reflects the optically brightened papers that are now normal. v2 remains overwhelmingly the more widely requested of the two, which is why it is still the sensible default, but if a printer specifies v3 do not substitute v2 for it.

Using it in Print.App

Assign it per design template rather than globally. A business card on premium coated stock and a large-format banner on vinyl should not share a colour profile, and Print.App applies whichever profile is attached to that template at PDF render time. Customers see the result of the conversion in the browser through soft proofing before they order, so the CMYK shift is not a surprise that arrives with the proof.

How Print.App uses this profile

Print.App ships this profile built in, as CMYK-eci-iso-coated-v2-eci. You assign it per design template in the designer, and every print file rendered from that template converts RGB to CMYK through it automatically. Nobody has to remember to do it, and your customers never see a colour setting.

The same profile drives soft proofing in the browser, so the customer approves the converted result before ordering rather than discovering it on the proof. There are 27 profiles built in, covering the ISO Coated, PSO, GRACoL, SWOP, FOGRA and Japan Color families.