Process Color Printing

Process color uses four ink colors — cyan, magenta, yellow, and black — printed as millions of tiny, overlapping dots that blend together to create the full color spectrum. Also known as the CMYK process, this method of printing saves money by limiting the number of printing plates required for a job to four. But there are some limitations to the specific colors that CMYK inks can create.

Process color applies four or more standard ink colors (the basic four are cyan, magenta, yellow and black) in very fine screens so that many thousands of colors are created. Spot color is usually used when a few exact colors are needed. Process color is more useful for printing photographs, paintings and very complex colored images.

Full-color images are created on the printing press by applying separate layers of the Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black inks. Thousands of colors can be reproduced by overlapping these CMYK colors in various concentrations.