I have been struggling with color management lately. Seems all of my stuff in coming out too dark, for some reason. I don't believe it is my fault, just part of the process working with a range of vendors and output devices. One aspect of color management, however, is the rendering intent.

Which one should be used on digital output devices like color copiers, large format inkjets or on digital presses?

Basically, the rendering intent is the process of re-mapping colors that appear on the monitor to that of the output device. The 'intent' controls how this happens and specifically, what is done to the colors or data that is outside the target space. Different types of different things:

Absolute Colormetric - This color that falls outside the range are 'clipped'. What this means is that they are represented by the closest colors that are still within the target gamut. All in-gamut colors are not changed. Manytimes, this intent is used for SPOT COLOR. Watch out for the white point with this method.

Relative Colormetric - Solves the white point problem by mapping this value to the medium's white point. This intent is the best way to simulate offset printing when using an inkjet printer.

Perceptual Rendering - Basically, ALL of the colors are shifted to support the gamut of the output device. The theory is that they will all maintain their original orientaton to one another. Very good for inkjet printers and photographs.