Print & finish3 min readUpdated Nov 13, 2026

Inks and colour

Your screen makes colour out of light. A press makes it out of ink, laid on board, paper or film that changes how it looks. Knowing how printers build colour helps your pack come out the way you designed it.

Four inks, or one mixed ink

Printers have two ways to put a colour on a pack, and many packs use both.

• CMYK, or process colour: cyan, magenta, yellow and black, printed as fine dots that the eye blends. Four inks make photos, gradients and most colours you need.
• Spot colour: an ink mixed to one exact shade before printing, with its own plate. Pantone is the system most printers use to name them, by number. Pick a spot colour when a brand colour has to look the same on every run, or for a big flat area that should look even.

Spot inks also come in metallic and fluorescent shades that the four process inks can't make. Each one is an extra ink on the press, so ask how many your printer can run and what each adds to the price. Most digitalDigital printing Printing straight from your file, with no plates. Good for short runs, samples and a different design on every pack. presses build every colour from their own set of process inks, so a spot colour comes out close rather than exact: ask for a proof.

Set up your file

• Work in CMYK, or in the colour mode your printer asks for. Some bright screen colours have no match in ink and print duller than they look.
• Name spot colours exactly as in the printer's swatch book, so they don't turn into CMYK on the way.
• Keep small text and thin lines in plain black only. Built from several inks, they blur if the inks shift even a little.
• For large black areas, ask the printer for their rich black, a black with other inks under it. On its own, one black ink looks a bit grey over a big area.
• Never use registration black, all four inks at full strength, in your artwork. It is for the printer's marks.

White is an ink too

On white board, white is simply the board showing through. On brown kraftKraft paper Strong paper from long wood fibres. Brown when unbleached, white when bleached; the paper of shopping bags and sacks., clear film or metallic film there is no white unless the printer prints it. Laid under your colours, a white layer keeps them bright; on its own it makes text or a logo stand out. Kraft paper and board shows what to expect on brown.

The press doesn't work out where white goes. You draw it: usually the white shapes on a layer of their own, in a spot colour named the way your printer asks, set to overprint. Ask for their guide before you start.

The ink itself

Which ink to use is the printer's choice, made for the press and the material. OffsetOffset printing Printing from a metal plate onto a rubber blanket, then onto the sheet. Fine type, photos and even colour, the usual press for paperboard cartons. inks are oil based, often on soy or other vegetable oil. FlexoFlexo printing Printing from soft raised plates on cylinders, straight onto the material. The usual press for film, paper bags and shipping boxes. on corrugated mostly uses water-based inkWater-based ink Ink that uses water instead of oil or solvent. Flexo printing on corrugated board mostly uses it.. If your pack needs a particular ink, for food, for recycling or for a certificate, say so when you ask for a quote.

Check before the full run

Colour on a screen is only a guide. Ask for a printed proof on the real material. The 3D view in the editor shows your artwork on White, Kraft or Colour board, or on White, Clear, Metallic or Colour film, in the finish you pick. It helps you judge the look; it is not a colour proof.

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