Vectors, Logos and Things That Get PrintedLesson 32 of 73

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Vectors, Logos and Things That Get Printed

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Module 4 · Colour that survives the press

A spot colour is a plate, and a plate is money

9 min read

What a plate adds on a 1,000-piece runOne colour78Two colours100Four-colour process133Process plus one spot151per cent of the two-colour priceA short run is dominated by setup rather than ink: each plate carries plate cost, make-ready and awash-up. On a 100,000-piece run the same four bars are almost level, which is why the honest advice isshort run, few colours; long run, colours are cheap.
A short run is dominated by setup rather than ink: each plate carries plate cost, make-ready and a wash-up. On a 100,000-piece run the same four bars are almost level, which is why the honest advice is short run, few colours; long run, colours are cheap.

Figure

What a spot ink is

A spot colour is an ink mixed to a recipe before it goes on the press, and printed from its own unit. Not simulated from four process inks: a physically different ink.

That buys three things process cannot:

  • Consistency. The same mixed ink on ten different jobs at ten different suppliers gives the same colour. A CMYK build depends on the press, the paper and the day.
  • Reach. Metallics, fluorescents, and saturated colours outside the CMYK gamut. There is no CMYK build for silver.
  • Economy on short colour counts. A two-colour job (black and one spot) needs two plates and two units. Printing the same job in process needs four of each, and costs more.

And it costs: each spot is an additional plate, an additional unit and an additional wash-up. On a job already running four-colour process, adding a fifth spot is a real line on the quotation. Ask before you specify it.

The Pantone situation, stated plainly

Pantone’s colour libraries were removed from Adobe’s applications in 2022. Using the current libraries inside Illustrator, InDesign or Photoshop requires a separate paid Pantone Connect subscription. The physical guide books were already expensive and are recommended to be replaced periodically because the printed inks fade.

What this means practically:

  • You do not need Pantone to work. Most small and mid-size shops work from their own printed CMYK charts and their own mixed-ink books.
  • You do need a shared reference. Whatever you and the printer both hold (their chart, a physical swatch, a printed sample of the previous job) is the reference.
  • A Pantone number is still the lingua franca, and an ink mixer can mix to one from the formula regardless of what software you used. If a client’s brand sheet says PANTONE 2925 C, that is actionable; you do not need the library installed to write it in a note to the printer.

Free alternatives for getting a defined spot into a file: define your own named spot swatch (below), and specify the reference in words on the docket.

Defining a spot so it stays a spot

The mechanic matters, because a “spot” that exports as process is worse than useless.

  • Scribus: Edit ▸ Colours & Fills ▸ New, name it, and tick Spot Colour. Scribus will keep it as a separate separation through PDF export. This is the strongest free path.
  • Illustrator: Swatches panel ▸ New Swatch ▸ Colour Type: Spot Colour. The swatch gets a small dot in its corner.
  • CorelDRAW: choose a colour from a spot palette, or Palette Editor to create one; it exports as a named separation.
  • Inkscape: no true spot colour support. You can name a colour, but it exports as process. For spot work, lay out in Scribus.

Then verify in the exported PDF. Acrobat Pro’s Output Preview ▸ Separations lists every plate. Free equivalent:

Bash
gs -q -o /dev/null -sDEVICE=inkcov job.pdf     # per-page CMYK coverage
gs -o sep-%d.tif -sDEVICE=tiffsep job.pdf      # one file per separation, spots included

tiffsep writes a file per plate and names the spot ones. If you see a file you did not expect, you have an accidental extra plate; and that is a cost the client will find on the invoice.

Tints of a spot

You can screen a spot ink like any other: 100%, 60%, 30% of the same ink gives you three tones from one plate at no extra cost. This is how good two-colour work gets its range, and it is the subject of the next lesson.

Tints of a spot are subject to the same dot gain as anything else, and a spot at 20% on uncoated behaves exactly like 20% cyan.

When to convert a spot to process

Convert when: the job is already full process, the colour is inside the CMYK gamut, and the client has not specified a tolerance you cannot meet otherwise.

Keep the spot when: the colour is out of gamut, it is metallic or fluorescent, the job is one or two colours anyway, or the brand requires cross-supplier consistency.

Say which you have done, in writing, on the docket. “Logo blue supplied as a spot, please convert to process” is a clear instruction. Leaving an unexplained fifth plate in the file and hoping is not.

Every lesson here is open. Your progress is recorded once you pass the Editing an Image exam.

Check your understanding

A designer defines the brand colour in Inkscape, names the swatch “Brand Blue Spot”, and exports a PDF for a two-colour job. The printer quotes for four plates. What has happened?

Pick the one you would defend. Your answer stays private.

Next lesson · 8 minGetting a whole design out of two inks

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Previous lesson: Why your 20% tint printed at 30%

How to cite: Addaly (2026) ‘A spot colour is a plate, and a plate is money’, in Vectors, Logos and Things That Get Printed. Edited by M. Mun. Addaly. Available at: https://addaly.com/learn/vector-and-print/spot-colours-and-plates (Accessed: 13 October 2026).