• White Ink is applied as a seperate layer when printed. It can be flood or spot.
  • Spot white is when some of the print is clear (No ink applied).
  • Flood is printed on clear material, but there is no clear visible.
  • The white in a design is not necessarily what the white file will look like.
  • White can be identified in artwork, preferably on a separate layer above the artwork layer, as 100% magenta.

CREATING THE SPOT WHITE FILE

White ink is applied to specified areas on the print. To accomplish this, review the following instructions. This applies to artwork that is vector, and the steps below are specific to Adobe Illustrator. The procedure will be similar for other programs.

Step One:

Make New Swatch

Make a new color swatch.

All fields and values must match the image in the “New Swatch” window. The swatch name must be “White_Ink”. 

Check Swatch Palette

When you are done, the spot color should appear in your swatch palette.

Step Two:

Make a new layer. Name it “White_Ink”

Step Three:

Select the artwork you want to have as spot white ink.

  1. Copy (Ctrl / ⌘ + C) your selection.
  2. Then Paste in Front (Ctrl / ⌘ + F).
  3. Make sure the “White_Ink” layer is selected as your current layer.
  4. Right click and select Arrange > Send to Current Layer to move the copied artwork to the “White_Ink” layer.

Step Four:

Apply the “White_Ink” swatch to your selected artwork on the “White_Ink layer.

Step Five:

Save the file and that’s it, you’re done!

Follow the rest of the prepress guidelines and send us your file!

Pro Tips

  • The less complex the white ink layer the better.
  • The “White_Ink” swatch can utilize transparency. Less white ink will be applied to print accordingly.
  • Depending on your art, some gradients and drop shadows that fade to clear will have a visible white edge if applied to a dark surface.