Single colours applied to printing when process colour is not necessary (i.e. one, two and three colour printing), or when process colours need to be augmented (i.e. a fluorescent pink headline or a metallic tint).

Colour that doesn't use process colour separation, but instead consists of solid-coloured type and design elements, is said to be spot colour.

The technique of adding colour (usually a single colour) to some areas of black-and-white advertisements.

Spot colour is not made using the process colours. Instead the colour is printed using an ink made exclusively. Each spot colour therefore requires its own separate printing plate. Spot colours do not apply to Digital Printing as the printing devices can only reproduce from the four process colours; cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

A second colour, usually in addition to black, to add colour to your printed piece. The ink is usually Pantone Matching System (PMS) consisting of named or numbered colours. PMS is generally accepted throughout the printing and graphic arts industry as the standard.

Individual colours used in one, two or three-colour jobs are known as spot colours. They are specified accurately by using the Pantone Matching System ( PMS).

a flat pre-specified, pre-mixed single colour ink, usually from the Pantone colour system

a separate colour not defined by raster like CMYK colours

a special premixed ink that is used instead of, or in addition to, CMYK process inks

An additional colour printed along with black

Spot colour is a colour that is printed from a specially pre-mixed ink, usually identified by a Pantone number.

A colour produced by using an specially mixed ink rather than by printing CMYK colours. Spot colours are guaranteed to be consistent from one print job to another and are therefore used for important images such as company logos. The disadvantage of spot colours is the cost. Each spot colour requires a separate printing pass. A typical catalogue page is printed using CMYK with 2 spot colours.

colour used in different places on each page.

Printed colours created with specially mixed inks.

Ink colour(s) other than black, used as a highlight or attention-getter

Small amounts of colour sparingly applied for greater effect.

Any area of colour that is not printed using a CMYK process set; coloured areas reproduced using self-coloured inks, such as Pantone inks.

Where particular PMS colours are designated to specific areas.

Colour that is usually specified in a document as a particular, often Pantone, colour, say, for text or graphical features. This is in contrast to process colour.

Addition of single colours to documents.

A colour that is printed not using four colour printing, but printed using self-coloured inks such as Pantone.

The litho process often uses a 'process set' of four inks, for which most colours can be mixed on the paper by using the amounts of ink determined by the colour separation made for each of the four plates involved. Whilst this works very well for pictorial work, designs which use solid colours are better reproduced using a special plate and ink - a spot colour - for that colour.

A custom mixed ink colour used in printing. A separate plate is used to print each spot colour. Pantone is a commonly used spot colour matching system. (See Process colour) Each spot channel holds data for an individual custom colour.

A single consistent colour used throughout an area.

Spot colour refers to colours that are solids and aren't made up of CMYK values. The Pantone Matching System (PMS) is the most well known system of spot colours used in graphic design.

A single colour ink or varnish applied to printed material. Primarily used when process colours are not appropriate. The effective use of spot colour can add heightened interest to printed materials without incurring the cost of process colours.

Single colours, either added to the pages of a document, e.g. most newspaper front pages used produced with a black plate and a spot colour red for the logo or nameplate or also be added to four colour process documents as either straight Spot colours to get the vibrancy you can't get from process, or specialty inks like metallics or flouros.

A second colour ink used to enhance the appearance of a publication, as in a red nameplate or masthead on the front page of a paper printed in black