When is an orange not an orange?

I recently sent a job to print which had an orange logo in the design of the letterhead and a glossy leaflet. I prepared the documents for print using 2 different printing processes, and as a result had to pay special attention to the orange colour.

There were 2 options for printing: 4 colour process (CMYK) or using spot colours (pantones). CMYK refers to the 4 colours: Cyan, magenta, yellow and black, which make up all colours. Pantone colours refer to a pantone swatch which is a ready mixed colour and a sure way of achieving a desired colour. 

The letterhead was printed in 2 spot colours, orange and black, as these are the only colours in the logo, it was more cost effective to print in this way. It also meant the logo was in a bright colour orange, as it appeared in pantone 144 swatch.

But, as the leaflet contained lots of full colour photos, this needed to be printed CMYK, and the logo converted from the 2 colour spot logo, into a CMYK version. The "solid to process" pantone book which gives CMYK breakdowns to match the pantone colour and works excellently for most colours, except the colour orange can be questionable. Luckily the logo was created in pantone 144, which has a good CMYK match. However I have seen logos made from swatches such as pms 021 and the cmyk match is more of a terracota than the bright bold orange of the pantone and the end print result can be most disappointing.

So its just worth bearing in mind, if you are planning on using orange or any colour for that matter, in a logo or any design to think about how the colour will re-produce in both spot colours and cmyk breakdowns.

If you would like help with creating a 4 colour version of your logo to ensure correct colour matching, or advice on printing processes please don't hesitate to get in touch.