But designers can still use colour management in other areas of their workflow, for example, with a monitor and proofer, as a way to match final press conditions. Profiling monitors involves explicitly calibrating them to compensate for colour drift that occurs over time, then setting a white point and gamma, and recording those specs in a profile. You can use Gamma on the PC, too. Colour management doesn't compensate for discrepancies caused by environmental conditions, but calibrating your monitor is one way to let everyone in your workgroup see consistent, predictable colours on-screen. Custom output profiles are the most time-consuming to produce.
Some companies make mechanised patch readers, which can speed up the process.
Custom press profiles are the most difficult output profiles to create because they involve scheduling a high-quality target run on a specific press or class of press. Many printers are reluctant because it's a time-consuming and costly process. One alternative, which is recommended by the GATF, is to simply profile the contract proofer, which is designed to simulate press conditions, anyway. A second reasonable alternative is to use a profile based on industry-standard press conditions, such as SWOP, Eurostandard, Toyo Inks, or Dainippon Ink. These generic profiles, which ship with all Adobe products, can be used to generate reliable colour-managed proofs.