Publishers of technology books, eBooks, and videos for creative people

Home > Articles > Design > Adobe Photoshop

Understanding Spot Color

📄 Contents

  1. Setting Up an Image for Spot Color
  2. Defining a Spot Color
Have you ever had this happen to you? A friend said that her boss really liked the ad she created but had one little suggestion: Could she add a burst to it? In this article, master Photoshop teacher Gary Bouton guides her and you through preparing an image for and then defining a spot color.
Like this article? We recommend

Have you ever had this happen to you? A friend of mine said that her boss really liked the ad she created but had one little suggestion: Could she add a burst to it? Boy, oh, boy. How was she to add that? In this article, master Photoshop teacher Gary Bouton guides her and you through setting up an image for and then defining a spot color.

Printing presses use a combination of inks—cyan, magenta, yellow, and finally black (to add "ooomph" to the printed piece). A CMYK reproduction of an RGB image sometimes appears duller than its onscreen counterpart, but this is because monitor colors are transmitting colors—the colors are made of light that goes out and hits the color sensors in your eye. In comparison, printed material is reflected color. A light source hits the paper, the image or text is reflected into your eyes, and something is lost in the process—namely brilliant colors. If you're taking the image to a printing company, you may find that the pressmen know how to goose up dull areas on a printing plate and make your image look closer to the onscreen version.

The example showcased in this article is one of those inane advertisements they hang on the kid's seat of a shopping cart. The image, Cosmic Cleaner.tif looks pretty much the same in CMYK color mode as it did in its original RGB color mode. Figure 1 shows the image to which we will add a spot color.

Figure 1 This image needs a burst that tells the viewing audience that it is new. You have about 320 pixels in width to create the burst.

Not to get ahead of ourselves here, but the image needs a "NEW!" burst in the upper-left corner. And we cannot simply add the burst to the artwork because the CEO of the product, Mr. Cosmic, wants an eye-catching, obnoxious, nearly fluorescent burst. Now, even Adobe's help line tells you that it is usually best to create your spot art in a vector drawing program, so in Figure 2, you can see that we've created a burst that, by the rulers, tells us that it's about 320 pixels in width.

There will be a problem you will learn to hurdle over in the examples to follow because although the burst can be hot pink, the "NEW!" lettering must be white. We can't simply leave a hole in the burst because the background image will show through and make the burst less than legible. So, when you create your EPS (Illustrator) file for export to Photoshop, make the lettering white, not empty (transparent).

NOTE

For those of you who do not own Illustrator, XARA, or another vector program that can export to AI or EPS format, we created the logo for you. It's called Cosmic.ai, and it was saved from Illustrator in the 7.0 version (to prevent incompatibility). You need to save it and CosmicCleaner.tif to your hard disk.

The first step is to place the carefully measured Illustrator file onto a layer in the CosmicCleaner.tif image. Fortunately for all of us, Photoshop reads the header of the Illustrator file and automatically places the art to the size designated in Illustrator.

Figure 2 Create a "NEW!" burst in which white text lies over the black burst. Now, you're ready to import it to Photoshop.

Setting Up an Image for Spot Color

Let's get this spot show on the road and bring in the burst, create a channel for the text (um, you need a channel to hold the spot color design), and fool around with the channels slightly so you can prepare an image knockout.

  1. Open the CosmicCleaner.tif image. A 50% viewing resolution is good.

  2. Choose File, Place and then choose the Cosmic.ai file.

  3. The art will plop itself anywhere it pleases in the image so, click and hold in the center of the bounding box and then drag the art to its appropriate place above the image, as shown in Figure 3.

  4. Either press Enter, or double-click inside the EPS import bounding box to make this vector image to be one composed of pixels (a bitmap image area). By default, Photoshop always anti-aliases vector imports, so the burst is crisp, yet smooth in appearance.

    Figure 3 When you place an EPS image, it imports at the size at which you created it. This is why placing it in this example works out so dandy.

  5. Now that the Cosmic.ai layer has the artwork, Ctrl(@Cmd)+click on the Layer title to load the silhouette of the burst as a marquee selection. This is move #1 in Figure 4.

  6. Click the Channels palette tab. Alt(Opt)+click the Create a new channel icon (see Figure 4, callout #2). Then, in the New Channel dialog box, check the Color Indicates: Selected Areas (#3). This is the mask you will use for the knockout in the image. Click OK to exit the dialog box.

    Figure 4 Load the opaque areas on the Cosmic.ai layer; then use the Channel palette's features to create a new white layer, into which you will render the burst's shape.

  7. Click the Alpha 1 channel title so that it's the current editing channel, and then fill the burst with black. Save this work as Cosmic cleaner.psd to a convenient and friendly place on your hard disk. (You can download our version of the file if you want.)

  8. Click on the RGB channel and press Ctrl(@Cmd)+C to copy the burst and its lettering to the Clipboard. Do not deselect the selection marquee, or you will be sorry.

  9. On the Channels palette, create a new channel and then choose Edit, Paste Into from the main menu—see Figure 5. Congratulations! You now have the outline of the burst perfectly in line with the text burst in this new channel. Press Ctrl(@Cmd)+D to deselect the marquee.

    Figure 5 Paste the Clipboard copy of the burst into the selection marquee that exists right now in the Alpha 2 channel.

  10. Press Ctrl(@Cmd)+S; keep the file open. You can and should delete the Cosmic.ai layer from the image at any time now. You do not need it any longer. Click on the RGB channel; you'll be working with this channel in the following section.

You now have all the working materials tucked away in this file to create a four-color reproduction for shopping carts everywhere, with a nice fat spot color burst in it.

Peachpit Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Peachpit and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Peachpit products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email ask@peachpit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Adobe Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.peachpit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020