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 Pantone
Method (also referred to as "spot color"
or "PMS color") - Screen print only
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Your artwork is created using specific colors from the
"Pantone
Spot Color Guide". This allows for bold colors with
razor sharp graphics through 100% ink coverage.
This
3 color art is made up of black, orange 1665 and orange 165.
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| This
CD would not look nearly as sharp or have colors so bold, if
printed through the CMYK process. |
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| This
art makes good use of the prismatic disc surface by "knocking
out" the text and lines from the 100% purple ink. The bar
underneath the solid black is a nice design element, created
by breaking the purple ink into a "tint" or percentage
of purple, resulting in a dot pattern. |
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Tints:
 100%
Pantone color = solid color
Less
than 100% of Pantone color = dots
The
dark orange is 100% PMS 152, and the light orange is 50% tint
of PMS 152. Using a tint of a Pantone color is not as clean
visually as using 100% of a Pantone color. In the example
here, the background could have been 100% of a lighter Pantone
color for a sharper look.
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Images
Through Pantone Colors:
If you want an image, but don't want to go CMYK, you can
do it using a "Monotone" or "Duotone" image,
however the image quality is not as high as the CMYK Offset
process (see below.)
This
art uses a Pantone blue Monotone image onto a white background.
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This
image is a "Duotone", which overlaps black and green
dots to make up the image. Duo-tone images need to be built
in Photoshop as "Duotones" assigning the two Pantone
colors within the image. (In Photoshop: Image> Mode>
Duotone). The image can then be linked into your layout program
(i.e. Illustrator).
If
you don't have experience using DuoTones, we recommend printing
photos with the CMYK process.
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 CMYK
Method (also referred to as "full color process
printing") - Screen Print or Offset
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Through
combining (C)yan (M)agenta (Y)ellow and (K)black, a rainbow
of colors can be printed. If you want a full color image/photo,
the CMYK process is the way to do it.
Most CMYK color jobs are printed using the high-resolution offset print process.
<More
about the Offset disc print>
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| Knocking
out small text from CMYK is not recommended, especially when
knocking out of very little color (like the top of the text
pictured here). If you must have small text in CMYK art, it
is best to make it positive black text against a light colored
background, or knock it out of 100% black only. (8
point minimum, see our Kit for complete
specs) |
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We
do not recommend the CMYK process for even color fills. A
Pantone color is best for that. We can print CMYK + white
+ 1 Pantone color (6 colors total)
This
disc is an example of just that. The blue fill is 100% Pantone
ink. The orange bar and image are CMYK.
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Other
Issues
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White
Background?
If color accuracy is important, then we strongly recommend
adding a white background. Even though we recommend it, we
never assume that you want a white background. Discs are silver,
so white is a color that we must screen print onto the disc.
This
monotone image would have been clearer if a background of
white had been used.
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Here
is a good example of the same artwork that was run with and
without a white background. This client prefers no white background
to let the silver disc show through in places.
<mouse over the image to see it with the white
background> |
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Gradients
...BEWARE!
Due to the limitations of the screen print process, gradients
crossing the 60% tint density may show a slight banding line
due to a jump in density when the screen dots begin to touch
each other.
Gradients
can often look great on the computer screen, and not so great
when screen printed.
If you must use a gradient, we recommend running it from either
10 - 55% or 65 - 90%.If you use a gradient that crosses the 60% density, we recommend
considering the offset litho "Picture Disc" process.
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Questions?
- Samples? - Need us to create your artwork for you? ...give
us a call
We
are committed to helping your project look its best. We have
over a decade of experience and have seen thousands of jobs
go through our doors. If you would like to send a JPG or PDF
of your disc art, we would be happy to give you our two cents.
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