The difference between CMYK printing and spot-color printing

Spot color printing has low color brightness and high saturation; spot color blocks with uniform ink color are usually printed on the spot, and the amount of ink should be appropriately increased. The sensitivity will be reduced, so it is easier to get a uniform and thick printing effect.

The color blocks overprinted by the CMYK printing process are prone to changes in color intensity due to changes in the thickness of the ink layer and changes in the printing process conditions. A change in the degree of dot gain results in a change in color. Therefore, it is not easy to obtain the effect of uniform ink color when the color blocks are overprinted by the four-color printing process.

From the point of view of economic benefits, it mainly depends on whether the use of the spot color printing process can save the number of overprints. Because reducing the number of overprints can save both printing costs and pre-press production costs.

If the picture of a certain product has both a color gradation picture and a large-area background color, the color gradation picture part can be printed in four colors, and the large-area background color can be printed in spot colors.

Spot color ink

It refers to pre-mixed specific color ink, such as fluorescent yellow, pearl blue, metallic gold and silver ink, etc. It is not overprinted by CMYK four colors, and registration means accurate color.

It has the following three characteristics:

1. Accuracy

Each color register has its own fixed hue, so it can ensure the accuracy of color in printing, thus solving the problem of color transfer accuracy to a large extent.

2. On-the-ground

Spot colors generally define a color with a solid color, no matter how light the color is. Of course, the spot color can also be screened (Tint) to present any shade of the spot color.

3.Wide color gamut

The color gamut in the register color library is very wide, which exceeds the performance color gamut of RGB, not to mention the CMYK color space. Therefore, a large part of the colors cannot be presented with CMYK four-color printing inks.