Printing with white ink has been mostly limited to offset printing by using a spot color or Pantone PMS colors, and generally comes with a substantial production run to overcome the initial cost of set-up. However, advances in digital technology has made printing with white ink possible for short run projects without the expensive set-up and long turn times. But maybe you’re asking yourself, okay that’s great, but what’s the big deal? Why should I care about using white ink? On the surface, white ink seems like the least exciting color all of the ink hues. But when you explore how white ink can be used, it becomes clear that this seemingly insignificant ink opens a world of possibilities. Below are just a few ideas on how to incorporate white ink into your projects.  

SPECIALTY STOCKS

Using white ink on dark substrates produces a high contrast look, one that is visually sharp and striking. White ink on a black business card eludes to a sense of high style. But apart from dark substrates, white ink can also be used on specialty stocks like wood grain textures, metallic, and mirrored finishes. 

CLEAR SUBSTRATES

When printing on clear substrates like plastic business cards or window clings, light passes through because inks are transparent. However, printing a layer of white ink behind your design acts like a light block, preventing light from passing through and making the ink appear solid. 

USING LAYERS

Much like white ink acts as a light block on transparent substrates, it can also be used as a way to normalize the surface of any substrate that is not white without losing the vibrancy of the original color. If you wanted to print a colored image or graphic on kraft stock, applying a base layer of white ink before applying colored ink mimics the look of printing on white substrates and keeps the color output from becoming dull, muted, or muddied. 

White ink opens a whole new designscape of interacting with unique colored and clear substrates. What kind of white ink project will you produce?

READY TO START YOUR WHITE INK PROJECT?

Follow these steps to set up your file for white ink printing.

MAKE A NEW LAYER

When designing your print project, you'll need everything that is printed with white ink on it's own layer. For easy identification, place this layer at the top of your document's layers and name the layer "White."

MAKE A SPOT COLOR

Create a new spot color. In Illustrator and InDesign, this is found in your swatches panel. Your new spot color needs to be named "White."

SET TO OVERPRINT

Overprint settings tell the press to print on top of the white ink instead of knocking it out. These settings are found in your Attributes panel. Look under the the window menu to activate your attributes panel. Select your white areas and check the box for overprint fill or stroke as needed. This will allow the white to be printed first with your artwork on top.

The big question when it comes to color in printing is: four color process or spot color? The answer to this question often-times determines how the job is printed, but it also determines how your files is built in the first place. So how do you know which is right for you; process or spot? To know the answer to that question, you must first understand the difference between four color process (CMYK) and spot color.

What's the Difference?

Four color process is the most familiar type of printing. Many in-home printers use four color process, and both digital and offset printers can use four color process as well. Four color process involves four colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) being laid down on paper in a dot pattern that, if done right, translates to a full spectrum of color to the human eye. A great way to see and understand this process is to look at a newspaper, where the dots are large enough to be seen individually.

Spot color is different from four color process in that each color is individual, mixed separately before being used for printing. The most well-known standard for spot colors is the Pantone Matching System. You can find a spot color is almost every color imaginable, as well as specialty colors including metallic and neon.

Additional Pointers

Four Color

Four color process is the only way to print full color images. Spot colors cannot capture the full spectrum of color.

Solid areas of certain colors can be difficult to match and maintain consistency with four color process, because dots of different colors are being used. This is a situation where the purity of a spot color may be most appropriate.

Thin lines are difficult to print with a four color process, because of the use of dot patterns. The lines can appear jagged or uneven.

Printing small items digitally, with four color process, is often the most economical, especially for short-runs or small items.

Spot Color

Solid colors are best for brand materials because they will produce the most consistent colors across lots of media.

Because spot colors are specialized, you are limited on the number of colors that can be used on a press, and thus the number of colors in the project itself.

Spot colors can produce brighter and more unique colors than four color process.

Spot colors cannot typically be printed on a digital printer, which makes their cost higher in some situations, but if less than four colors are used on an offset press, the price can be comparable to four color process.

H/T: PaperSpecs