CMYK (for Those Who Do RGB)

Mezzoblue article

[limbo]

This is a very informative summary of all things print for those who put together graphics that have to adjust to both media.

[mezzoblue.com...]

[katana_one]

One thing the author missed is that Illustrator comes with Pantone spot colors already built in, eliminating the need to approximate them as custom swatches.

They can be accessed (in Illustrator 10 for Windows) under:
Windows > Swatch Libraries

They are listed in this menu as "Pantone Solids."

[lZakl]

Not to hijack the thread, but I think the whole Pantone Spot craze is kind-of funny, being if a press has the ability to do spot color, you could just build your project with a black plate and one seperation ie. Magenta. The only use I can see for Pantone is if you have a six color press and you need to seperate a color ie. "PMS 5777, or Olive Green" from C, M, Y & K. And the only way this would work is if the company had pre-mixed the PMS color prior to printing. Often times it's easier to build the color in CMYK, or just use a C, M, or Y plate for your "Spot" instead of a Pantone. Just my 2¢ :0)

-- Zak

[katana_one]

>> … you could just build your project with a black plate and one seperation ie. Magenta … <<

If I have an Illustrator file that I want to print in two spot colors, and I use black and cyan in the document INSTEAD of the actual Pantone colors to be printed, then yes, I can still run the Pantone colors on those press plates and end up with what I want.

But what if the written or verbal instructions to run the PMS colors is lost or miscommunicated somewhere in the print run? What if you store documents in a shared directory for other people to use?

Using the actual Pantone colors in the document allows you to not only get a good idea of what it's supposed to look like when it's done, it is much easier than telling the printer:
"See this part that's black? I want that in Pantone 186, and I want this cyan area to be Pantone 380..."

Some output devices even put the name of the spot color on the negative so the Pantone ink number is right on the press plate when the press operator gets it.

[lZakl]

I see... when you are sending to a printer, I can see the advantage... I don't use it, because we ARE the printer I suppose. That I can verbally communicate the color I want to our pressman I take for granted maybe. I don't complain about Pantone when I get them from advertising agencies and whatnot. I just don't see the use in my protected bubble.

Also we (and most print-shops) have a full color proof sheets of the end product that the pressman (and customer) gets to see. This would clear up the confusion if the colors were miscommunicated, as after the proofs are changed, he takes the proof sheet back to the press area, and uses it as a visual reference for registration, and ink density.

-- Zak

[moose606]

Pantone actually has a software product called Colorist, which allows you to seamlessly incorporate pantone solid colors in Photoshop, Illustrator, et al. I use it a lot for web design, as the Pantone pallet has over 1100 colors vs. web safe's 216 colors.