Pantone & Spot Colours
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spot_color
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/basic/g/spotcolor.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexachrome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CcMmYK_color_model
Spot Colours
In offset printing, a spot color is any color generated by an ink (pure or mixed) that is printed using a single run.
The widely spread offset-printing process is composed of four spot colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (black) commonly referred to as CMYK. More advanced processes involve the use of six spot colors (hexachromatic process), which add Orange and Green to the process (termed CMYKOG). The two additional spot colors are added to compensate for the ineffective reproduction of faint tints using CMYK colors only. However, offset technicians around the world use the term spot color to mean any color generated by a non-standard offset ink; such as metallic, fluorescent, spot varnish, or custom hand-mixed inks.
When making a multi-color print with a spot color process, every spot color needs its own lithographic film. All the areas of the same spot color are printed using the same film, hence, using the same lithographic plate. The dot gain, hence the screen angle and line frequency, of a spot color vary according to its intended purpose. Spot lamination and UV coatings are sometimes referred to as 'spot colors', as they share the characteristics of requiring a separate lithographic film and print run.
Generally the cost and potential for problems for a print job increase as one adds more spot colors, due to the increased cost and complexity of added process inks and films, and requiring more runs per finished print. However, because of the complicated process, spot colours are effective at preventing forgeries of money, passports, bonds and other important documents. Money printing for example, uses secret formulae of spot colors, some of which can be seen by the naked eye and some that can only be seen by using special lights or applying certain chemicals.
A spot color is a specially mixed ink using in printing. Spot color inks come in a rainbow of colors, including some specialty inks such as metallic and fluorescent.
Unlike CMYK or process color which creates colors by laying down layers of just 4 specific inks, spot colors are pre-mixed and you use one ink for each color in the publication. You can also use tints of a spot color to get the appearance that you're using more colors without the expense of additional inks.
There are different brands of spot color inks. In the United States, the dominant spot color printing system is PANTONE. The Pantone Matching System or PMS consists of over 1,000 colors of ink. Other spot color systems include TOYO, DIC, and ANPA.
Using Spot Colors
- Just Add Black plus a spot color and some tints.
- When to Use Spot Colors, Process Colors, or Both based on budget, consistency, precise color matching needs, special effects, and use of photographs.
- Just Add Black plus a spot color and some tints.
- When to Use Spot Colors, Process Colors, or Both based on budget, consistency, precise color matching needs, special effects, and use of photographs.
- Also Known As: PMS colors
- Examples: In the PANTONE Matching System, spot colors are identified by number. For example, PMS 340, 355, and 370 are three different green spot colors. Suffixes further identify colors based on the paper you'll be printing on because it affects appearance.
Pantone
Pantone Inc. is a corporation headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color space used in a variety of industries, primarily printing, though sometimes in the manufacture of colored paint, fabric, and plastics.
In October 2007, X-Rite Inc, a supplier of color measurement instruments and software, purchased Pantone Inc. for $180 million.
Pantone began as a commercial printing company in the 1950s. In 1956, they hired recent Hofstra University graduate Lawrence Herbert as a part-time employee. Herbert used his chemistry knowledge to systematize and simplify the company's stock of pigments and production of colored inks; by 1962, Herbert was running the ink and printing division at a profit, while the commercial-display division was $50,000 in debt; he subsequently purchased the company's technological assets from his employers and renamed them "Pantone".
The company's primary products include the Pantone Guides, which consist of a large number of small (approximately 6×2 inches or 15×5 cm) thin cardboardsheets, printed on one side with a series of related color swatches and then bound into a small "fan deck". For instance, a particular "page" might contain a number of yellows of varying tints.
The idea behind the PMS is to allow designers to "color match" specific colors when a design enters production stage, regardless of the equipment used to produce the color. This system has been widely adopted by graphic designers and reproduction and printing houses for a number of years now. Pantone recommends that PMS Color Guides be purchased annually, as their inks become yellowish over time. Color variance also occurs within editions based on the paper stock used (coated, matte or uncoated), while interedition color variance occurs when there are changes to the specific paper stock used.
While not Pantone products, color charts can be found online that show approximate PMS colors rendered in RGB.
Pantone Color Matching System
The Pantone Color Matching System is largely a standardized color reproduction system. By standardizing the colors, different manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone system to make sure colors match without direct contact with one another.
One such use is standardizing colors in the CMYK process. The CMYK process is a method of printing color by using four inks — cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. A majority of the world's printed material is produced using the CMYK process, and there is a special subset of Pantone colors that can be reproduced using CMYK .Those that are possible to simulate through the CMYK process are labeled as such within the company's guides.
However, most of the Pantone system's 1,114 spot colors cannot be simulated with CMYK but with 13 base pigments (15 including white and black) mixed in specified amounts.
The Pantone system also allows for many special colors to be produced, such as metallics and fluorescents. While most of the Pantone system colors are beyond the printed CMYK gamut, it was only in 2001 that Pantone began providing translations of their existing system with screen-based colors. (Screen-based colors use the RGB color model — red, green, blue — system to create various colors.) The Goe system has RGB and LAB values with each color.
Pantone colors are described by their allocated number (typically referred to as, for example, "PMS 130"). PMS colors are almost always used in branding and have even found their way into government legislation and military standards (to describe the colors of flags and seals). In January 2003, the Scottish Parliament debated a petition (reference PE512) to refer to the blue in the Scottish flag (saltire) as "Pantone 300". Countries such as Canada and South Koreaand organizations such as the FIA have also chosen to refer to specific Pantone colors to use when producing flags. U.S. states including Texas have set legislated PMS colors of their flags. It has also been used in an art project by the Brazilian photographer Angelica Dass which applies Pantone to the human skin color spectrum.
 |
| Example of colour matching objects with their Pantone colours |
Hexachrome
The main purpose of Hexachrome was to create a printing ink system that could depict brighter and clearer picture by being able to produce more accurate colors.Using this system instead of the CMYK ink system prints also allows for more accurate skin tones and pastels. The Hexachrome system, for the first time, lets users print the images from computer screens that were not able to be accurately duplicated before. As well as producing overall better quality than previous systems, Hexachrome also increased efficiency as it produces many more spot colors. Having more spot colors increases efficiency because it allows for the press to use one ink set for all jobs, rather than one specified ink set for each job. Keeping a printer configured for Hexachrome also eliminates the number of washes required on the printer; therefore saving times and simplifying printing production.
CcMmYK color model
Individually, light cyan is often abbreviated to Lc, and light magenta is represented as Lm.
Advantages of CcMmYK over CMYK
The most noticeable result of using light cyan and light magenta inks is the removal of a distinct and harsh halftoning dot appearance that appears in prints that use light shades of cyan or magenta on the pure CMYK ink configuration. Usually when printing a dark color the printer will saturate the area with colored ink dots, but will use fewer ink dots to create the effect of a light color. The result is hard to notice with Yellow because the human retina is not as sensitive to yellow as other colors. However, the individual cyan and magenta ink dots will stand out in a sparse pattern due to their darker color against a white background; the result is undesirable when it is noticed.
By using light cyan or magenta, the printer can saturate areas that would typically use halftoning with these inks to remove the look of sparse magenta and cyan dots. The downside is the printer needs approximately twice as much light cyan/magenta ink in areas to achieve the same saturation as pure cyan/magenta which can lead to excess ink usage. The end result, however, is significantly better for some photos.
