What is Process Printing?
Process printing is a printing technique widely used around the world. The name is actually a shortening of the four color printing process, a reference to the way in which images are prepared for the press. Process printing was developed in the early twentieth century along with offset printing, and overtook other printing methods such as letterpress in popularity by the 1950s. Process printing is cheap, rapid, and efficient, while yielding stunning images in mass production. Most of the printed objects we interact with on a day to day basis are produced using the process printing technique. Glossy magazines, mailers, brochures, and other color printing projects are all produced using this method. Sometimes process printing will be combined with spot color printing, where inks are combined to create a specific color. Spot color is necessary for metallic inks and special color projects. To prepare an image for process printing, it is separated into four color components: cyan, magenta,
(back to top) Full color or 4 color process images are reproduced by a series of small dots called halftones and generally use a combination of the the three primary colors–blue, red, yellow, to make cyan, yellow, magenta, and black (CYMK). For example, green is reproduced on the garment by combining yellow and blue dots.
