What is “spot color” and “four-color process” printing?
Spot color and four-color process are two different ways to print on anything – mouse pads, paper, etc. For both processes there must be a separate plate or screen (called a color separation) for each ink color to be printed. As you might expect, the more colors to be printed, the more plates are needed and the more expensive the job is. In spot color printing the inks are mixed by the manufacturer and are applied one color to a plate. If “exact” color matching is required, exact colors can be specified using PMS (Pantone Matching System) number codes. In four-color processing, four ink colors are mixed together on the printing press to make essentially all the colors of the rainbow. These four-colors are usually called “CYMK” for cyan (a light blue), magenta (a pinkish red), yellow and black inks. If the job has only a few colors, spot color is an economical way to print. However, if the job has a lot of colors it can be less expensive to print using four-color process. Photographs mu
