Printing standards help communicate expectations and limitations between designers, prepress and printers.

They are based on traditional printing processes such as offset, gravure or newspaper printing.

Basically, a printing standard such as ISO 12647-2 or ISO 15339 describes the result of a print using a best-practice press setup.

These standards are created by ISO committees, where industry experts work together to make life easier for everyone in the printing industry.

The committee that produces most of the standards relevant to the printing industry is ISO TC130, where people from MYIRO contribute their expertise.

The resulting standards are published by ISO and must be purchased. But for daily work it is often not necessary to buy and read the standards. 

There are many industry organizations that publish information about these standards and the resulting best practices free of charge.

Here's where you can find some useful information.