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• • September 30, 2015 at 9:54 am #78456
    Toby Low

    Member

    Hi All,

    Apologies if this is a stupid question.

    Why would you ever want to create a swatch that uses a CMYK value but is set up as a Spot color?

    I ask as I received some artwork with 2 spots in called BRAND_RED and BRAND_GREEN which I had assumed were the Brand Pantones renamed… (I know now this is an obvious sign as you can’t edit the Pantone Swatch name!).

    It was a 3-color job with black and I checked separations preview and all looked ok. I had some proofs back from the printer and they had specified 2 arbitrary PMS refs for the red and green that didn’t match the brand spec. That made me double check the artwork, which is when I noticed the ‘CMYK spot”

    I don’t know how they made the conversion – and I guess the issue is my fault because I didn’t check the swatches in InDesign – but could someone explain to me why this option is even available? Would there ever be a case to use it? Am I missing something here?

    Thanks for any pointers – really confused here.

  • September 30, 2015 at 10:43 am #78457
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Not a stupid question.
    You can make a spot color out of any color mix: RGB, CMYK, or Lab. It does not matter. The only thing that matters for spot colors is the name. Because it is the name that the printer will use to pick colors.

    I talk about that a little bit in my title on color at lynda.com.

  • September 30, 2015 at 11:39 am #78458
    Toby Low

    Member

    Thanks for the reply David – and glad it wasn’t a stupid question!

    I’m still confused though… How does the printer know what to print?

    For example if I made a design and colored it with a Spot swatch called MEGA_YELLOW with CMYK values of 0,0,100,15. I export it to PDF and send to the printer.

    He will see a sepaearyion called MEGA_YELLOW but how does he work out how to make the yellow? Does he just manually match it to what he deems to be the nearest Pantone? Or does the RIP process do some guesswork?

    I’m sorry if this is basic print knowledge but I’m afraid I’m a little bit of a product of my time – in that I know how to use the software but my knowledge of the actual technical processes behind the scenes are a little flakey. :/

    thanks again

  • September 30, 2015 at 12:17 pm #78459
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    The printer looks at the name (usually something like “Pantone 286C”), looks up the ingredients for how to mix that ink in their Pantone book, mixes it, and puts it in the press.

    If you use a color name like “mega_yellow” then the printer has no idea what the color should be and may just pick a random yellow color. However, if you send the job to the printer and say “mega_yellow is supposed to be Pantone 185” then they can do that for you.

  • September 30, 2015 at 12:44 pm #78460
    Toby Low

    Member

    Thanks David for the clarification.

    I guess it still leaves the question – why would anyone make a spot color and not use a recognised color system like a Pantone? Is it just for spot UVs and the like?

    Should I just consider the Spot color as purely something that denotes where something is printed and in what density rather than having to contain any color information.

  • September 30, 2015 at 1:21 pm #78462
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    I think it would really only be if the designer doesn’t know what color the final should be. For example, someone might set the color to “Spring 2016” for the spring catalog, knowing that the real pantone color will be worked out later.

    Then ink aliasing can also be helpful: https://creativepro.com/alias-one-color-swatch-to-another.php

  • October 1, 2015 at 10:17 am #78476
    Toby Low

    Member

    Thanks again David – it’s an interesting discussion which I think highlights the importance of talking to your printer :)

  • October 1, 2015 at 11:58 am #78478
    Colleen Shannon

    Member

    Toby, to reiterate, it helps to have the same Pantone Spot Color in your file as in your work order to the printer. I work prepress, and if those don’t match, we call the customer to verify.

    One reason we might change the spot colors (for example to 100% Cyan spot) in the file is to get the best screen angles (the dot pattern). This usually happens if the design is complicated, with transparencies used, etc.

  • May 16, 2016 at 12:51 am #84917
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    I am referred to this site [[spam removed]] and I am looking to use and see how my projects will looks using the idea. CMYK through inDesigns is my last resorts though.

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