Spot colors( solid colors) are colors created by pure or mixed ink that always provides a consistent color when pressed. Now you might be staring at the screen in total confusion, and that’s completely understandable considering that the definition sounds like word garbage. So I will try to explain it to you in plain english to make this process of learning as painless as possible. 

Spot colors, contrary to the name are not made of spots, they are completely solid colors that come from a pallet and are mixed according to the formula of the color you wish to develop. It’s similar to fingerpainting in kindergarten, we learned that to get purple paint you would mix blue and red, it’s pretty simple.

Uses and Systems

Spot Colors are great for company logos and brands that are very color specific about their things. The interesting thing about Spot Colors is the possibilities that come along with it, such as metallics and fluorescents. 

Pantone Matching System (PMS) is one of the most common spot color systems that people tend to work with. They have a base of 18 in which they work off of and develop their inks to create their unique range of colors. Their inks have a code that includes numbers and letters, the letter C standing for a shiny glossy coat and U standing for uncoated which gives a matte finish.

Softwares

Spot Colors are accessible through Adobe software in:

• Illustrator
• Photoshop
• Indesign

Illustrator- If you look at the table located at the top of your screen once you open illustrator you will see a tab labeled ‘windows’ click on it and select swatches. Once you’ve done that locate the dropdown menu on the right side and click Open swatch library>Color Books>Pantone

The same process can be followed on the others, Adobe tends to use a similar format for all its programs. And that is basically a summary of what spot colors are, if we can review for a second in case you forgot. Spot colors are not made of spots, they are solid colors, they are utilized best in branding/logos, and they can be accessed on almost any Adobe software. Thank you for reading!