There are so many decisions that go into making a great book, and one of the biggest is also the most colorful.
Choosing between one-color and four-color printing doesn’t have to keep you up at night, however. The best choice for your particular book will depend on your style or genre, your budget, and your timeframe.
Take a look:
- Advantages of one-color printing: One-color printing is simply that: black ink (typically) on a white page. Period. Ideal for first-time authors or publishers who need to adhere to a tight budget, but still want a professional aesthetic. It also costs much less! In a digital printing environment like at Gasch, ink is a major cost component, and the typical one-color book requires a lot less ink than in comparable four-color book. Setups are faster, costs lower, and turnaround time is achievable just in the nick of time.
- Advantages of four-color printing: Four-color printing – also known as CMYK – leverages four primary colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) applied individually in separate passes through a printing press to create dazzling full-color images on paper.
Four-color book printing offers greater design flexibility and is frequently used to bring image-heavy books, like children’s stories, to life. Magazines, graphic novels, and catalogs would be pretty dull without it. Vibrant color palates make interiors leap off the page while offering a world of fantastic possibilities for cover treatments that dazzle when paired with matte, gloss, or soft-touch lamination, and the end product is consistent, attractive, and fit for any shelf.
Choosing between one-color and four-color printing for your next book may seem like an overwhelming task, but unlike all of the colors in the rainbow – there really are just two main factors: budget and design. For professional-looking results on a tight budget, one-color printing does the trick. For full-color graphics and/or complex designs, four-color printing is likely the way to go.
At Gasch, our team utilizes state-of-the-art digital printing equipment to produce high-quality one-color and four-color text and covers. Whether your needs are simple, requiring black text on uncoated stock, or more complex, calling for vibrant images in four-color on luxury stock, we can help you.