A printing system uses different color quality values to set quality levels for color printing operations. When creating a calibration for a paper, a color quality attribute is defined that corresponds with the level of color printing quality for the calibration. The resulting calibration is stored with the color quality attribute. The calibration is used to create an ICC profile that is used in color printing operations for the paper. Print jobs may indicate the color quality attribute for the paper for color printing such that the calibration and ICC profile are selected.