Questions Regarding Spot Colors and Gradients

[lauren]

Hello, my name is Lauren. I have a few questions and I'm hoping one (or more of you) can help.

I recently finished a design for a project and the company came back to me with a few questions/requests.

One of the products I designed uses a gradient as part of it's design. The company asked me to create the gradient using layers, spot colors and overprinting.

1) How do you do that effectively to recreate the same look as a regular gradient created in illustrator? (Any tutorials/suggestions)?

2) Would creating a gradient using spot colors instead of just regular CMYK be cost effective? Does it depend on the complexity of the gradient? They told me that the output would be more consistent during every print run if it was done with spot colors instead of a CMYK gradient.

3) Do spot colors HAVE to be chosen from Pantone colors? A customized spot color that is non pantone is possible, correct? (It is my understanding that it is possible).

4) Do metallic colors have to be chosen from Pantone colors or can they be customized as well?

Let me know!

Thanks.

 

[Yoga]

Looking forward to answers to this important and interesting question.

Yoga

 

[gordo]

IMHO

1- Seems like they want you to have the gradient as a separate object from the rest of your art. Makes it easier for them to work with it and modify as needed.

2- Would creating a gradient using spot colors instead of just regular CMYK be cost effective? Possibly. Adding a spot color increases cost but controlling one color might cause less problems - i.e. lower cost - than controlling 4 colors to achieve the same final effect. So - production -wise it might be cheaper to use a spot color.

3- No. Spot colors do not have to be chosen from Pantone colors. Pantone is just one system of specifying a custom color. There are others, or you can bring a sample color to your printer and have them match it.

4- No. Metallic colors do not have to be chosen from Pantone colors.

best, gordon p

 

[Philo]

Hello Lauren,

I suggest you to use the appearance panel for the creation of gradients. You can create two coloured levels for a same path / design (one with a solid color and the above level with the gradient in overprint.

Phil.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

lauren some questions that jump out at me are:

Is this a packaging "product"?

You mention overprinting of the gradient. What is under the gradient? What colours are in the gradient and what colours and elements are under the gradient?

1) What program are you working in, if not in Illustrator? Are you in Photoshop or InDesign or something else?

2) What are the colours that the gradient is gradating between? A "solid colour" to "white" - or something more complex?

Can you post a low resolution jpeg version of the job or area in question?


Best,

Stephen Marsh

 

[kyle]

Using a spot ink in addition to CMYK will almost certainly be more expensive than CMYK alone. If the quantity is very high, the gradient is large, and the color requires a high total ink percentage (like a dark violet that would be 100% cyan & magenta plus 50% black), then less ink would be required if a spot ink is used, and it's conceivable but unlikely that this would mitigate the price difference.

As ink densities vary throughout the press run, a spot ink gradient will be more stable and will not vary in hue, whereas a CMYK color will change more as its component ink colors change in relation to one another. With a good press and press operator, however, this shouldn't be a significant issue, unless the expected tolerance is extremely tight. So if the paper is expensive and extremely tight tolerances in the gradient are expected, the reduced variance with a spot ink is another possible mitigating factor in the cost.

If you create the gradient in Photoshop, be sure to set the "smoothness" parameter of the gradient to zero if you are attempting to match how Illustrator makes gradients. Illustrator and Indesign will make simple linear gradients, whereas Photoshop will make a gradient that changes more gradually at the ends if you do not set smoothing to zero.

If using Photoshop, I also recommend changing to 16-bit mode before you make the gradient, then back to 8-bit after. If the resolution is high enough (at least 300 ppi), this will create very fine intermediate steps that will get dithered when you switch back to 8-bit mode, nearly eliminating the chance of visible "banding," which occurs when you can see sudden steps in the gradient. This is preferable to the "add some noise" method that is often used.

 

[prepression]

Check out this resource if you require more information:

Amazon.com: Exploring Digital PrePress: The Art and Technology of Preparing Electronic Files for Printing (Design Exploration Series) (9781418012366): Reid Anderson: Books

 

[rich apollo]

I recently finished a design for a project and the company came back to me with a few questions/requests.

One of the products I designed uses a gradient as part of it's design. The company asked me to create the gradient using layers, spot colors and overprinting.

1) How do you do that effectively to recreate the same look as a regular gradient created in illustrator? (Any tutorials/suggestions)?

This is simple. Create two gradients. Each gradient will run from a spot color to white, and will run in opposite directions. They should be the same size and sit directly on top of one another. Set the top one to overprint.

2) Would creating a gradient using spot colors instead of just regular CMYK be cost effective? Does it depend on the complexity of the gradient? They told me that the output would be more consistent during every print run if it was done with spot colors instead of a CMYK gradient.

Depends on the design. If the piece can run as ONLY the two spot colors, then it MAY be more cost effective - depends on the colors involved. If it is running with any CMYK, then it is NOT cost effective to run the two additional spot colors.

3) Do spot colors HAVE to be chosen from Pantone colors? A customized spot color that is non pantone is possible, correct? (It is my understanding that it is possible).

As Gordo said, there are other libraries of spot colors to choose from. The issue is being able to communicate what the color is supposed to look like. Most printers will have a PANTONE® swatch book on hand. You also have to be able to communicate the color to the ink vendor. If a custom blend is required, you're running up the cost of the ink. PANTONE® colors are just a lot easier because they're ubiquitous.

4) Do metallic colors have to be chosen from Pantone colors or can they be customized as well?

You can spec anything you want. The trick is getting it. You're gonna' have better luck sticking with PANTONE® colors. This begs another question, "Are you trying to build a blend with a metallic?" Not a good idea, and you CANNOT emulate metallic inks in CMYK. Metallic inks are opaque and so you're probably not gonna' get the look you want.