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Spot colors

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AKNative

Technical User
Dec 16, 2004
6
US
Hi, can someone tell me what exactly are "spot colors"? What is the difference between spot colors vs full color? I want to do my upcoming print jobs correctly but of couse with some knowledge beforehand...
 
A spot color would be a standard ink swatch - such as Pantone 185 that is built with specific combinations of inks (i.e. Pantone 185 C is 12 pts Pantone warm red and 4 parts Pantone Rubine red) - the spot color goes on just as if you were drawing with one ink pen.

Process color (which can be applied to Pantones) - builds the color using a combination of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black- four colors are used to produce tone or the build.

Generally if a job - say a logo will have two colors - Blue and Black, lets say - it will be cheaper to do spot colors because you will only be using two inks instead of four - and if a shop has a small two-color press, will only require one pass as opposed to two or more.

I hope that helps somewhat. I belive Adobe has some info available on color theory available.

Donna
 
Thank you Donna.

I am working on a logo with a yellow background using an effect on of that and a 2 color logo.

Can I ask another question?

Why does my ILSTR tell me I have transparency when I attempt to save? (I am thinking it may be my mosiac effect I am using with my background--is that it?)

Thanks, I am very new to this program and appreciate your help in advance!

E~v~a
 
AKNative

Another reason why spot colours are used in printing is that you can get an exact colour match, because a specific colour ink is used to print with. That colour can be seen in a spot colour swatch book. CMYK colour is more a hit and miss, as the combination of the four process inks is more variable, depending on the press, the operator, and the brand of inks used.

Also the range of colours possible with spot colours is wider than with process colours (CMYK) alone. (If you are using yellow plus two spot colours, that's 3 colours by the way).
 
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