Spot Color
A pre-mixed solid ink color, used instead of building the color from CMYK halftones.
A spot color is a single, pre-mixed ink — the opposite of process color (CMYK). Instead of simulating "red" with overlapping cyan, magenta, and yellow dots, the printer uses a screen filled with red ink straight from the bucket.
Spot color produces flat, saturated, perfectly even color. It is the right choice for logos, simple graphics, and anything with one to four solid colors. Most screen-printed shirts you own use spot colors.
The Pantone system is the most common way to specify spot colors. When designing for screen printing, build artwork using a small set of named spot colors rather than gradients or photographs — it is cheaper and prints cleaner.
Related terms
Pantone (PMS)
A standardized color matching system. Specify a Pantone number to get the exact same color every time.
CMYK
Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key (Black) — the four-color process used for full-color reproduction.
4-Color Process
Reproducing full-color art using only CMYK halftone dots — the cheapest way to print photographic designs.
Screen Printing
Pushing ink through a stenciled mesh screen onto fabric — the classic high-volume t-shirt method.