C.M.Y.K. or Spot Colors in Printing

The theory of color is very scientific, but I will not be presenting a scientific answer to what is color. I will be exposing how colors are used in the printing industry. In addition, what the acronym C.M.Y.K. means and how it is different from spot color printing.

I cannot define color without mentioning that without light color is not seen. You can prove this by trying to see color in a dark room or a dimly light room. A thumbnail sketch of this truth is the color we see is a reflection of a particular wavelength of light. The color red reflects the red wavelength of light therefore, you see the color red, and this process expresses each color.  

We will begin with the simplest explanation first; printing with spot colors. The term spot color describes the process a printer uses to print an image using 100% color. If a decal or a label needs to be printed with red and blue, the printing manufacturer would mix a color that is 100% blue and red. These colors are separate from each other and are not mixed on the substrate to make a third color.

Spot color printing is straightforward and not complicated there are some exceptions, like when you overlap transparent colors to make a third colors. Most of us have experimented with this when we were children when we used crayons coloring one color on top of another color to make a third color. The artist who paints in water, or oil colors use this process on the canvas or on their palette.

The more complex printing method is what is known as four-color process, which is printed using C.M.Y.K. This acronym C.M.Y.K. is the abbreviation of the colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. Cyan is blue, Magenta is red, Yellow of course is yellow, and Black is black. Sometimes these colors also known by their Pantone equivalents; process blue, process red, process yellow and process black.

The four-color process method of printing uses these four colors, by printing dots of each color on the substrate. Each dot of color is printed next to one of the other four colors at a predetermined distance and angle. The light reflecting from each color dot mixes together so the observer see the color that was intended for that area of the image.

The four-color process color theory is utilized in various and unrelated technologies. Television uses this same theory, your color printer, any picture you take with a color film camera or a digital camera, magazines, you can add to this list by looking more closely.

How can you tell if I am telling you the truth? Next time you look at a magazine picture or the digital picture you printed look closer by using a magnifying glass to observe to image. The magnifying glass allows you to see the dots of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black that make up the image.

It must be noted in closing black is the absence of color and is used in this process as a definer or shadows. The color white is a combination of all the colors, and usually four-color process method of printing is printed on top of a white background.

I leave you with a question why is DPI or Dots per Square Inch important in the four-color process method of printing?

Doug Bryant

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