Applying Color - Adobe INDESIGN 2.0 - USING HELP Help Manual

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Applying Color

About spot and process color types
You can designate colors as either spot or process color types, which correspond to the
two main ink types used in commercial printing. In the Swatches palette, you can identify
the color type of a color using icons that appear next to the name of the color.
Spot colors
A spot color is a special premixed ink that is used instead of, or in addition to, CMYK process
inks, and that requires its own printing plate on a printing press. Use spot color when few
colors are specified and color accuracy is critical. Spot color inks can accurately reproduce
colors that are outside the gamut of process colors. However, the exact appearance of the
printed spot color is determined by a combination of the ink as mixed by the commercial
printer and the paper it's printed on, so it isn't affected by the color values you specify
or by color management. When you specify spot color values, you're describing the
simulated appearance of the color for your monitor and composite printer only (subject to
the gamut limitations of those devices).
For best results in printed documents, specify a spot color from a color-matching system
supported by your commercial printer. Several color-matching system libraries are
included with InDesign; see
Keep the number of spot colors you use to a minimum. Each spot color you create will
generate an additional spot color printing plate for a printing press, and increase your
printing costs. If you think you might need more than four colors, consider printing your
document using process colors.
Process colors
A process color is printed using a combination of four standard process inks: cyan,
magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK). Use process colors when a job requires so many colors
that using individual spot inks would be expensive or impractical, as when printing color
photographs. Keep the following guidelines in mind when specifying a process color:
For best results in a printed document, specify process colors using CMYK values
•
printed in process color reference charts, such as those available from a commercial
printer.
The final color values of a process color are its values in CMYK, so if you specify a process
•
color using RGB or LAB, those color values will be converted to CMYK when you print
color separations. These conversions work differently when you turn on color
management; they are affected by the profiles you specify. (See
management" on page
Don't specify a process color based on how it looks on your monitor, unless you are sure
•
you have set up a color management system properly, and you understand its limita-
tions for previewing color.
Using Help | Contents |
Index
"Loading colors from other color systems" on page
337.)
Index
Applying Color
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308.
"About color
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