Using Color


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USING COLOR--Spot or Process, what is the difference?
We get a lot of documents designed to be 2 color that are actually 4 color documents. The reason typically is a lack of understanding of how software treats color. If your inkjet has 4 refills, you may already know something about this. Basically there are 2 types of color we use in offset printing,. Only one form is utilized when using an inkjet or laser printer.

Process color is a process that uses 4 colors, cyan (process blue), magenta (process red), yellow, and black to produce full color as seen above.

The other is Spot Color which is, let us say, Red and Black as separate colors, and they cannot be mixed. Most programs that allow offset printing of documents have both "types" of color available, but will default to process to use in office printers. If you want to print spot color you must change your color palette. Spot Color is controlled by the ink color used on the press and Process Color always uses the 4 process colors a stated above and referred to as C,Y,M,K. If you bring us a document in process color and you want a spot color document printed, there is sometimes a substantial charge for the time it takes to convert the colors, if they can be converted at all. All programs handle color differently so look in your help files for how to set up color in your program. If your program does not allow for separations in the print dialog box chances are you are going to have a problem, call before you bring us your file, maybe we can save you and your company a lot of time expense and disappointment.

For additional information about color click here Pantone Color.

When you open your fill or outline color options your screen should look something like the picture to the below.

To the left is the blow-up or enlarged version of the Fixed Palettes Tab. Under the Fixed Palettes tab you will find the Pantone Matching System color palettes for spot color.

Here is a close up look at the Pantone Matching System Palette selected in CorelDRAW 9 and showing the 4 process colors. Selecting any of the colors on the Pantone Palettes will only produce one color when printed. Unlike CMYK which requires 4 colors to produce or RGB that is a monitor color for your computer, but will convert to CMYK when printed and also requiring 4 colors to produce.

You can order a Pantone Color Booklet from http://www.pantone.com if you like and it will have all the coresponding colors for this palette so you can see a printed sample of the color or colors you choose for your project.

If you want to test your file to determine how many colors you have in your art select from the File menu, print, then select the tab Separations. To the left you will see that screen. Notice that all four of the process colors are checked. This tells us that you will produce a 4 color document. You should only see the colors you want to print on this screen checked by default. If you have stray colors, click the preview button on the bottom left and you will see exactly how each color will print out.

Good Luck!

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