Printing with white ink on brown kraft stock is an eye-catching option for hangtags, business cards, wedding invitations, and other pieces where a standout natural look is desired.
White ink is a spot color - a fifth ink in addition to the four standard process colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. To achieve a suitable opacity, the printed piece cycles through the press four times for four layers of the white ink before printing the other colors. As a result, alignment of the colors becomes more challenging. For this reason, we recommend avoiding small font sizes and fine lines.
The color of kraft paper is similar to a brown grocery bag, so strong solid colors like blacks, dark greens, and burgundies will image better than light pastel colors, which may appear faint or disappear altogether when imaged. When we send a PDF soft proof of your order for your approval, we'll include a kraft layer to simulate this effect, but if your project is color critical, we recommend purchasing a hard proof, which will more accurately reflect your final piece.
If designing for white ink printing in Adobe Illustrator or Adobe InDesign, create a New Swatch, Swatch Name: White, Color Type: Spot Color, Color Mode: CMYK, color mix 100% Cyan.
We suggest 100% Cyan so that the white areas can be identified. A blank background is not white ink.
In Photoshop, Channels palette, choose New Spot Channel, Name: White, Ink Characteristics; Color: 100% Cyan, Solidity: 100%. White art must be created in this channel, not the CMYK channel. We suggest 100% Cyan so that the white areas can be identified. A blank background is not white ink.
If you have any questions about white ink printing, feel free to call Greenerprinter.