What Are PMS, Spot Colors, Metallic Colors?
Pantone Matching System (PMS)
A popular color matching system used by the printing industry to print spot
colors. Most applications that support color printing allow you to specify
colors by indicating the Pantone name or number. This assures that you get the
right color when the file is printed, even though the color may not look right
when displayed on your monitor. PMS works well for spot colors but not for
process colors, which are generally specified using the CMYK color model.
Spot Color
Refers to a method of specifying and printing colors in which each color is
printed with its own ink. In contrast, process color printing uses four inks
(cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) to produce all other colors. Spot color
printing is effective when the printed matte
r contains only one to three different colors, but it becomes prohibitively
expensive for more colors. Most desktop publishing and graphics applications
allow you to specify spot colors for text and other elements. There are a number
of color specification systems for specifying spot colors, but Pantone is the
most widely used.
Why do I need to convert to CMYK?
In order for a job to print, it must be converted to CMYK. It is important to do
this conversion on your end as a client so you have a realistic idea of what
your job will come out like, and give you an opportunity to make subjective
color adjustments that we would be unable to do here in the case of a
colorshift.