Spot Color Separations

It helps to understand the printing process when learning to create spot color separations. Just adding color to a file does not mean you've prepared your file properly for spot color separation.

Offset Printing

Printing presses apply color to paper using various colored inks. The spot color inks most commonly used are categorized using the PANTONE color matching system. Colors are given a name or number such as PMS 100 (pale yellow) or PANTONE PURPLE. Each color is applied to the paper separately. The colors are carefully aligned, or registered, in the proper position to produce a final image.

Each color applied to the paper requires a separate "plate". For instance: the American flag is a 2-color print job. The blue information is output on one plate, the red information on another. That means that artwork for a multi-color job must be created in the same way, with each color on its own sheet of paper.

Specifying Color in Software Applications

Although every application is different in how color is created and applied to objects or type, there are some similarities. In order to create proper spot color separations the application you are using must allow you to choose colors from a PANTONE color list or let you create colors and designate them as "spot" colors.

Applications that will allow you to do this include: Adobe InDesign, Adobe PageMaker, Quark Xpress, Corel Draw, Macromedia Freehand and Adobe Illustrator. Although Adobe Photoshop will allow you to do this with duotones, it is not capable of allowing you to select objects or type, then apply a specific spot color to them.

Verifying Your Separations

Double check your colors to make sure they are designated as "spot" colors. Do not use "process" separations unless you are creating an ad in full color.

Once you have completed your ad, print to your own printer using the color separation feature of your specific software application. If your printer prints a page for each color you've designated in the file and the objects and type are printing on the correct color page, you've succeeded.

NOTE: Color separations do not print in color, they print in black.