tip one

Draw an ink

Ultraviolet (UV) inks share most of the characteristics of conventional inks. However, they dry much differently. While conventional inks can take hours to air-dry, UV inks dry in less than a second from an intense burst of UV light. This means the sheet can be sent immediately back through the press — and that means a quicker run. And because they dry more quickly, UV inks emit fewer volatile compounds (or none at all).

Soy or vegetable inks are partially derived from plant-based, “green” sources. They emit fewer compounds into the atmosphere, and are generally more environmentally compatible during the recycling process.

Fluorescent inks appear to reflect two or three times as much light as conventional or soy-based ink. They produce cleaner, brighter colors. Try using a touch of fluorescent ink to make images pop.

tip two

Accept substitutions

Try replacing one of the traditional process colors (CMYK) with a match color or other special ink. You can get richer blacks and achieve other custom effects — and even leave surrounding images virtually unchanged as needed.

tip three

Let paper color your ideas

Process inks are inherently transparent. That means you can get all kinds of effects when you allow paper color to show through. See our tips for printing on colored paper. And most of all, have fun!

tip four

Get out of order

CMYK jobs are typically printed in that order: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. But you can increase contrast and otherwise manipulate your images by changing things up. Talk to your printer about changing the sequence.

tip five

See also: 6

Green and orange hues are the most difficult to reproduce using CMYK printing. The hexachrome process adds two extra ink colors passes to the mix — namely, green and orange.