Full color brochure printing usually means standard four-color printing, and is now offered at almost every brochure printing company. Four-color printing is also referred to as standard color printing and employs cyan (blue), magenta, yellow, and black inks, often abbreviated to ?CMYK.? Most computer software programs will convert any text or image to CMYK, and this is usually a requirement of printers.

Brochure printing companies will usually provide a clear explanation of the four-color process. Most high quality, full color commercial printing is done on offset presses using this four-color build process. These four colors are used to create or build the many color shades seen in a brilliant, full color printed brochure.

Color can be tricky, because what you see on your computer screen is called RGB color; it is a different color model than the four-color process. Frequently there is a wide variation in monitor technologies and calibration, and colors will be similar, but not exactly the same. Make sure you communicate to your printing service what color you need to see in the final product. If you print a sample color brochure on your inkjet or laser printer, there may be some variation from the color produced from your printer to the offset lithographic presses. Colors are difficult to mix in the exact right proportion. Once the right color is selected it may appear to be different on the computer and on the brochure. It is important that the colors be seen in natural daylight. There are three basic colors that are mixed together to form the entire color range.

One of the many advantages of the four-color process is that computer-controlled inking and chemical mixing systems provide color consistency. Automatic color and register control maintains consistent quality, making four-color process the most popular printing choice. The computer controlled process is highly accurate and makes it easy to make the exact color match. Once the computer finalizes the exact proportion of colors to be mixed automated machines take over to input that exact amount into the mixing chamber. It is vital that the correct input is given to the computer and that a sample of the color to be mixed is taken on the computer screen with high image quality.

When an exact color match is essential, a spot color of specially mixed ink is used in printing. These specially mixed inks are called pantone colors. You can find color books showing thousands of pantone colors and get an exact match. Spot colors are used most frequently for one- and two-color jobs and when an exact color needs to be produced every time. Full color brochure printing is easy and affordable; so let your imagination soar. Once you dwell into the world of colors, the possibilities are infinite. Start today.