Business Card Design and Printing

The Relationship Between Paper and Ink

Color is so important in your life and has dramatic effect on our functions is society. Colors guide us on our way to work using red yellow and green in traffic lights. They are the main ingredient in assembly and connection of electronics and wiring.

On this website colors also have a tremendous impact on the look and feel of your finished product. Additionally, there are many other factors that will influence the way colors print on paper.

There are many methods of etching that final color image onto paper such as laser, inkjet, professional lithography, letterpress, silk screening or by hand. Indeed all these rendering techniques are much different, but one of the key elements they all share is color. Selecting and balancing your color choices is an art and each color used should be understood for their symbolic meanings.

There are some paper substrates that have been designed for special purposes and cannot be printed on using conventional printing methods like CMYK or Spot Color. For example Bind a Kote is a specialty color coated paper that works very well with foil stamping and embossing. Because the paper colors are so pronounced they would have tremendous influence on traditional inks. For a good comparison take a sheet of white paper and color on it with a pink magic marker, now take the same marker and colour on a deeply colored sheet. You’ll see the color of paper hugely effects the same color.

Printing Ink Options

There are infinite variations and combinations of printing inks, when it comes to our unconscious responses to color schemes. The 2 most commonly employed consumer printing methods used are spot color and CMYK color. CMYK or full color printing uses 4 primary colors Cyan, magenta, yellow and Black. These 4 colors are then printed usually on white paper in overlaying tint values for truest reproduction. Spot color usually is defined by the pantone matching system but not always. Some corporations choose to adapt their own unique ink color which is identified on a scale of 100, e.g. 10 parts reflex blue, 80 parts transparent white and 10 parts black. This is the same method used in mixing paints for rooms in your home that you select from a swatch book.

Color Schemes

Design and color technicians like using specific combinations of color to entice predictable reactions. A Simple color scheme is the most comprehensive way to present your marketing masterpiece. By using specific combinations of color and paper you can change the face of direct mailers, brochures, postcards, business cards or any marketing material.

Make a classy looking catalogue cover using neutral color schemes to appeal to the masses. Neutral color schemes are usually executed using spot colors and varnishes. When working with colors and using them in color schemes for production it should be approached with education and enjoyment. Don’t be afraid to experiment because it can be exciting. Think through the entire concept and try to cover all angles including cultural differences of your target audience.

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