Confused newbie: 2-color printing
lunafish (22 pencils) | Tue, 2009-04-28 04:07Hi all,
I've really been enjoying lurking on this website! Lots of fun graphics and great crits.
I'm not a graphic designer, but I play one on ... and off. I have a background in landscape architecture, but was recently laid off and am trying to make myself useful, so I am redoing cards and ads and such for my husband, myself, the cat, the dog, and anyone else who might want to put a fresh face out there. Mostly just tinkering with the trial version of photoshop, so I can only do this for another 12 days - oops, 11 days, as I see it is nearing midnight. I've used photoshop regularly to make renderings and do visual impact analysis, but my experience with getting things to print is minimal - I understand the difference betweem RGB and CMYK (I think, read on...) and I can tweak the images to look just fine coming out of the printers and plotters we had at the office, so, you know, whatever.
So, my first big gig... must get my husband's business card printed up for a conference on Sunday... called the local print shop, and asked them about prices, turnaround, etc. on 2-color printing; I made a really nice looking (IMHO) card up using black, a slate greenish-blue color, and white background. Then I thought to myself... does two colors mean black + something randomly found on the Pantone color library that happens to match my husband's eyes, or does two colors mean C+Y, or K+M, or maybe K+C just in right proportions to approximate the color I chose?
Or am I over-thinking this???
Thanks to all who have the patience for such a basic question!
Chris
Commenting on this Forum topic is closed.
You aren't over-thinking it, and your ideas of two colour are quite right.
Two colour does just mean two colours specified by the designer.
These could be Black and Cyan, or even Cyan and Magenta. They could also be two pantone colours. You can also specify mixes of colours as your two colours, but this will tend to get both more complex and more expensive, and you don't have the assurance of knowing exactly how they will print without having some test swatches printed.
Specified colours like the various examples above are known as 'spot' colours. When you mix colours to make your final colour they are known as 'process'.
For two colour work like this you may find it easier to work in Illustrator or InDesign than Photoshop, simply because they allow a more simple way to work with spot colours.
Does that help?
The simple answer is yes, it means choosing a color from the Pantone color library. So you could use Black and one Pantone color, or two Pantone colors.
You could also mix black and magenta as you mentioned, but you're pretty much limited to black, magenta and any mixture of the two.
Quite frankly, if you're paying more than $50 for a two-color business card, you're really better off just printing it in full color from an online print company like UPrinting.
You can get 500 cards, printed full color on both sides, on uncoated stock for less than $50. It's even cheaper if you don't print on the back and print on glossy stock.
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Black is one color. The specific shade of slate greenish-blue is the second. This second color MUST be a "spot color," and black must be only black. Neither should be a CMYK build unless you're going to print 4C. Ask your printer to show you a Pantone book from which you can choose the exact ink color you want. Make note of its number, and make sure that your artwork uses that number.
You should not use Photoshop for this project. Use Illustrator or your page layout program.
Mara
Since we're sort of on the subject, it might be helpful if someone could explain how to handle spot colors in Photoshop.
(This is a roundabout way of ME asking for a refresher on this... lol)
My experience in working with spot colors in Photoshop has always been a major headache... and it's possible because I don't know a better way.
Any time I've worked with spot colors, I've worked with them in the Duotone color space. Is there another option (meaning maybe Lab)? I guess the duotone color space makes sense, because if I work in RGB... well then, I'm working with an RGB "mix" of colors. If I work in CMYK... well then, I'm working with a CMYK "mix" of colors.
In any case, the duotone thing is a nightmare for me, though, as all I've ever got from it is a DUO-tone image (meaning it mixed whichever two spot colors I was working with). I think I had a nightmare of a time trying to get just a solid version of one spot color or the other.
Also... I can't seem to recall exactly, but I think even printing the separations of the duotone was a big headache, too.
In any case... yeah.. I definitely agree that sticking with Illustrator for spot color images is the way to go. But there IS a way in Photoshop... it's just a nightmare (in my own experience).
Oooh thanks for reading my long ramble.
I agree with you about what a pain it is to handle spot colors in Photoshop. The Monotone/Duotone approach is all I ever used, but I do want to stress in this thread that the business card job this poster is working on right now shouldn't be created in Photoshop at all.
Mara
Thanks Mara -
Very true. Photoshop really should only be utilized for digital image manipulation, not really for page layout. I actually hesitate even recommending Illustrator for page layout. Illustrator can be used to handle the supporting images (for example, a two-color logo). But when it comes down to putting in the names, titles, phone numbers, etc, that part should really be done in InDesign.
Very helpful comments above! Thanks!
I think I use Photoshop generically for any Adobe software. I did use photoshop for the inital image manipulation and a quick mock-up, but vectorized everything and added text, first in Illustrator, then converted to InDesign. I find Illustrator to be a clusterf**k, because I have used and hated AutCAD for so long...
I'm committed to using local businesses, and really hate the look of glossy 4-color... the most local print shop is a bunch of yahoos, but the second-most local one is really good. Both charge +/- $50 - $55 for 250 cards, +/- $50 to $60 for 500.
thanks again, I think I've mostly figured it out..!
Chris
forgot to sign in.., the above message is mine.
Thanks so much again!
Definitely consider whether the card must be done in two color or if you just do a short run cmyk on a digital press.
Get a trial version of InDesign and do your card and colors there if you can. Find out from the printer if they want a one up or if they want you to provide a full sheet with crops and trims.
:)
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