Digital Print and Colour
July 2, 2008 – 1:10 pmWhat’s the catch then? I suppose up until now Digital Print looks reasonably infallible doesn’t it? I’m about to explain the Achilles Heel if you like that Digital Print has. Its colour capabilities are still rather basic shall we say. Most presses such as our Xerox DocoColor 5000 operate on a standard 4-colour process using toner of some sort. These colours are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. These make up the popular phrase CMYK.
It’s alright for 99% of customers who aren’t too concerned as to which exact shade and tint of, for instance, blue they want, because if there’s 2% too much Yellow in the produced colour or 2% too little they probably aren’t going to be able to tell the difference. The problem comes when customers request “Spot colours”. These are colours that cannot under any circumstances or feat of mixing inks/toners be achievable in CMYK. In Litho Printng they are ordered especially as 1 colour from the manufacturer. As a result in Digital Printing, they are simply not achievable as all we have to work with are CMYK.
This is where Digital hits a snag. The best that can be done is the closest possible CMYK match which is possible on the machine. To achieve this we use something called a Pantone Solid to Process Book.
This book has all the Pantone Spot colours and a CMYK alternative that is the closest possible match to that Spot colour. Providing the machine’s colour settings are calibrated then these colours are achievable and so the customer can have a close match to his or her Spot colour. This is something that will have to be taken onboard by customers when ordering their stationery or flyers.
Unfortunately this is one of the main downfalls of Digital Print and will continue to be for some time as there is no logical workround other than the ludicrous thought of having a spare toner dispenser and then ordering specific Spot colour toners and using them as and when, although this is nothing more than an extreme line of thought comparable to the Litho way of working.
You can find more information about the Pantone Range here.
3 Responses to “Digital Print and Colour”
So is the best method of design to use CMYK composite colours and completely avoid SPOT colours, Flourescents & Metallics?
By darrenweavers on Jul 3, 2008
That largely depends on what you’re designing for. If it’s a job you intend to be litho printed then SPOT colours aren’t a problem. A litho press can use single or SPOT colour inks specifically mixed to make SPOT colours.
Digital presses can only use CMYK toners, there aren’t any SPOT varieties. As a result, the best that can be achieved Digitally is a 4-colour match.
By tomdavison on Jul 3, 2008