Offset Printing

How 4 Color Process Printing (CMYK) Works

What Does CMYK Mean? The abbreviation CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (K is used rather than B in order to avoid confusion between blue and black). These are the ink colors used to produce full-color photographs and designs through four-color process printing.

Four color process printing is a system where a color image is separated into 4 different color values (called a color separation) by the use of filters and screens. This used to be done with photographic film on a graphic arts camera, but is usually done digitally with software now. The result is a color separation of 4 images that when transferred to printing plates and sequentially printed on a printing press with the colored inks cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow and black (the k in cmyk), reproduces the original color image. Most of the entire spectrum or gamut of colors are reproduced with just the four process ink colors. The four color printing process is universally used in the graphic arts and commercial printing industry for the reproduction of color images and text.

CMYK vs Pantone: Printing Processes Demystified

When preparing an image for printing in CMYK, the electronic file is separated into four primary colors: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The image is recreated using screen tints made up of small dots that are applied at different angles to the four process colors. The separated color images are then transferred to four different printing plates on the press. The colors are then printed one after the other to recreate the original image. The CMYK colors are manufactured colors and are not mixed by the end user. This method can be referred to as 4 color, full-color or standard process printing.

 

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