Spot Colour Channels

The Context

This is a mockup of an ad for a construction company using our two colour image. Every element in this ad is either black/grey, or in Pantone 165. The first frame shows the colour composite of the ad in InDesign. The second is all the black content. The third plate shows all content which will print in Pantone 165. Spot colour channels are usually displayed in greyscale. The darker the content, the more intense the application of the spot colour.

A two colour ad is less expensive to print than one in full colour. Only two printing plates are produced rather than four. Also, Less ink is used. A job like this could be given to a small printer who charges less than a large operation.

Prepping the File

1. Download our sample image.
2. We want the image to end up with a Black plate and one spot colour plate (Pantone 165 C). We need to get rid of the existing colour.
3. Convert the image to greyscale by going "Image >Mode >Greyscale". If you are asked whether or not to flatten the image, choose "Don't flatten".
4. 
5. Create a new Spot Colour Channel by going to the Channels palette's flyout menu. Select "New Spot Channel"
6. In the dialog, click on "Color", then on "Custom".
7. To select a specific spot colour. Type its Pantone number. There is no field to type in. Just type away. In this case, Pantone 165 C from "Pantone Solid Coated".
8. The dialog will move to that colour.
9. Click "OK".
10. Set the solidity of the colour to 100%. This has no effect on printing. Only how the image appears on screen.
11. In the Channels palette, you should see the newly created "Pantone 165 C" channel.
12. In the Channels palette, target the Greyscale channel.
13. Cmd-click on the "woman" channel.
14. You should see a new selection appear on the image.
15. Go "Select >Inverse" (or Shift-Cmd-i).
16. Type "D" to reset your Foreground and Background colours to black and white.
17. Cut this content from the greyscale channel.
18. Target the spot colour channel.
19. Paste the content to Spot Colour Channel.
20. It should appear orange in the image.

If you were to print this image's separations, you would get two colour plates: one orange and one black.

Erasing Spots

You'll notice that there is a second layer in the file named "Hammers". Turn on its visibility.

Notice that the hammers are covered with orange. To reveal the hammers, simply draw a marquee which covers the hammers. Target the Pantone 165 C channel. Fill with white.

When you fill with white on a Spot Colour Channel, it erases the spot colour in the canvas.

Now the hammers should appear in greyscale (with no orange). They will print on the black plate if separated.

Full Intensity Spot

Now we will show how filling with black on the Spot Channel actually applies 100% of the Spot Colour in the canvas.

1. Draw a Marquee in the small square area to the right of the hammers.
2. Target the Spot Colour Channel
3. Fill with black.

See? It fills with solid Orange 165.

Screening a Spot

Now, I would like to demonstrate how to obtain a screen of the orange 165 colour.

1. Select the rectangle below the first hammer on the left with the Marquee tool.
2. Hit the "D" key to reset your foreground and background colours to black and white.
3. Go to the "Color" palette. Enter a value of 20%.
4. Target the Spot Colour Channel.
5. Fill with the Foreground Colour (20% black)

Type on Spot Channels

Type works very differently on Spot Colour Channels, compared to normal type in Photoshop. To start with, it is not vector data. These means that it is way less editable. It also means that there are no font file dependancies with such a file. Let's try.

1. Target the Spot Colour Channel.
2. Hit the "D" key to reset your foreground and background colours to black and white.
3. Use the type tool with Myriad Bold 36 pt. left-aligned.
4. Type the word "Work". See how a red overlay appears?
5. Hit Enter to accept what you typed. Your text is loaded in a marquee which you can move around.
6. Once you deselect, you can no longer edit the text. It is painted in Pantone 165.

We're Done!

We have completed the lesson. The resulting image should look like the one below. If you save this file as an TIFF or PSD you could place it in any page layout application. When you print seps, the file would separate into a Black plate and a Pantone 165 plate.

Your Assignment...

Your assignment, if you choose to accept it (well, you really don't have any choice, if you want a good grade) is to download the provided files.. You'll need to replicate the look of the model file with spot colour channels.

• Use the designated spot colour
• Divide up the content onto the right channels
• Save the file in the right file format

Hand in both assignments, even if we did the first one together.