Four Color Printing: your Color Options and Precautions

Do not make the common mistake of thinking that four-color printing only refers to having print-outs in four colors, nor does it mean producing merely cartoon-like images with solid blocks of colors. Four-color printing is full-color printing that allows you to print images in the likeness of rich photograph prints.

An Colorful Overview
The paper is run through the machine through four towers of colors - one for each of the four colors cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Different colors are produced by layering the four colors of CMYK.

Since the inks are semi-transparent in nature, the different intensities of the CMYK combined can produce a gamut of colors. It has the capacity to produce different shades and colors that our eyes can perceive. Thus, four color printing can variably create tones and shadows and blend colors really well.

Your Four Color Printing Options and Precautions
1. Accurate Four Color Printing
But even with CMYK, it can only provide a limited choice of colors. While it occupies a huge part of the color spectrum, it still is not enough for some print jobs.

• A color system that may be added to four color printing is the Pantone Matching System. Through spot coloring, the most accurate and consistent colors provided by the Pantone Matching System can be transferred unto your prints.

• Most printing companies who use four color printing can buy a specific color from the Pantone system at the your request. This can be an expensive custom printing job because it requires buying and using a very specified ink. This makes up for the added cost because it is highly unlikely that this other color will be used in other print jobs with the thousands of other colors available.

2. RGB and CMYK
• Both of these color systems occupy different spaces in the color spectrum. And even if both have the capacity to produce a particular color, there is still no exact conversion of RGB colors to CMYK colors and vice versa.

• The outcome will be slight or significantly different because RGB’s base colors are different and so does CMYK’s. But other than this, RGB is only present in video and monitors while hard outputs such as print is solely the territory of CYMK.

3. There is no White Ink
• Even with four color printing, there is no such thing such as white ink. If you want to really print in a seemingly white colors, you can only result to pearlized ink stamping where a close resemblance to white may be available.

• Again, pearlized inks are a custom printing job and entail an additional expense to your printing job like the Pantone Matching System.

4. The Effect of Coating
• Coatings such as UV or Matte can greatly influence the appearance of colors and even add texture to the overall appearance of your prints. UV can significantly add vibrancy to prints, such that a selective UV coating, where only a selected area or spot on your print will be coated in UV, is enough to highlight it and bring out a different hue or intensity of color.

• A Matte finish, on one hand, gives your colors a more natural and subdued finish that makes your prints natural and elegant. Colors are not diminished but are given a different character with the soft and dull finish provided by Matte coating.

When printing with full-color. It is important to always ask your printing company for a hard copy proof. This way, you can see with your own eyes the colors you want to see and adjust your design accordingly. Use the tips and precautions so you can successfully achieve a satisfying four color printing project.