When to Use Spot Colors or Process Colors

Perhaps you've learned the difference between spot colors and process colors. You know that spot colors such as Pantone or PMS colors are specially mixed ink colors. You know that process color,printing also known as 4-color and CMYK) uses varying percentages of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks to reproduce colors. Now, the next step in learning to use colors in your desktop publishing is understanding when to use spot colors, when to use process colors, and when to use both for a specific print project.