Spot colour

Mike spent a little while reiterating the key principles of spot colours ,
including how and when to apply them...

Spot colours are separate to the CMYK colour range, they are singularly
ready mixed (not using CMYK) colours that require their own specific
printing plate.

Spot colours are not made up from the ink process, they are outside the
CMYK colour gammut and are particularly good to achieve bright solid
colour, eg. fluorescents and colours unachievable by the CMYK process.

Spot colours can have a particular influence on the price of a print job,
if 3 colours are used overall it is cheaper to produce those 3 print plates
than use 4 CMYK plates to achieve less true colours.

Brands and companies use spot colour to ensure that colours are exactly the
same every time they are reproduced over any medium, be it a logo, packaging
or just a simple letterhead.

The PANTONE system is a complete directory of every spot colour available
(changing annually). This system allows colour to be expressed as numbers/code,
allowing the designer/client relationship to run fluently via phone and email
without looking at the same screen.