Printing 2 spot colour gradient!!

[Briss]

Hi everyone, I am a brand new member to this forum, not so new in graphic design but still run in to some problems now and again, so I was wondering if anyone could help me out.
So here it goes: I am vector redesigning (Illustrator CS) my client's existing 4 colour 60x20px logo so he can use in larger sizes with sharper edges, but i am trying to keep it to 3 colour only, which seems pretty simple until I get to the gradient part where i am trying to use 2 spot colours in the same gradient. If i change the colours in the Swatches palette to Spot they look REALLY weird cause i think that AI overprints them on screen.
My question is, how do I send this to the printer so that they print on separate plates and be sure they print correctly?

Thanks in advance.

Briss

[prepress_goddess]

but i am trying to keep it to 3 colour only, which seems pretty simple until I get to the gradient part where i am trying to use 2 spot colours in the same gradient. If i change the colours in the Swatches palette to Spot they look REALLY weird cause i think that AI overprints them on screen.
My question is, how do I send this to the printer so that they print on separate plates and be sure they print correctly?

Thanks in advance.

Briss

Make sure that you are using your pantone solid coated pallette when choosing your spot colors. When creating your gradient, be sure to go from Spot To Spot - including goint to white, make sure that your "white is set to 0% of your spot color - one thing that i also tell my customers is to use the flyout menu on the color pallette and select "select all unused" and then delete the unused colors - this will let you know if you've missed any overlooked spot colors.

You need to contact your printer to find out what file types are acceptable for print - as for correct output - send separations to your laser printer to make sure the colors are ending up on the right seps.

[Silence04]

personally, i think you will get better results if you make one of the spot colors overprint the other for the gradient. i.e. don't fade both colors from 100% to 0%, only fade one of them on top of a solid color... typically when you fade 2 spots from 100% to 0% in one gradient the middle becomes muddy looking or much lighter.

but if you decide to do the overprint gradient, more than likely, you will need to select a different/lighter PMS color for the one that is overprinting.

[prepress_goddess]

you could also map the spots to process - hard to really say what to do without knowing the colors to be used

what colors do you want to blend?

[Briss]

the 2 colours I have, in fact already blended (logo redesign is finished) are two reds, one bright red and the other a sort of wine colour, to make for the shadows. The design is really a simulation of curtains with a tubular effect, some "tubes" wider than others. On screen while NOT defined as spot colours the effect looks fine, but if I edit them as Spot, then all hell breaks loose and some parts of the gradient look "muddy" as Silence04 mentioned.

[Silence04]

if the two colors are red then i would def make the lighter red 100% all the way through and overprint the darker red on top of the lighter red.

(example of how to do this: make a square of your light red color, then right on top make another square but fill it with a gradient of dark red to white, then set that square to Overprint Fill in the Attributes window...then make sure Overprint Preview is turned on under view)

for your darker red, you will need to choose something a little lighter in color, otherwise your dark red and light red will mix together and make "super" dark red.

[prepress_goddess]

if the two colors are red then i would def make the lighter red 100% all the way through and overprint the darker red on top of the lighter red.

that's how i'd treat this one as well - if the two spots are in the same color family, Silence04's solution is the way to go!

[Briss]

if the two colors are red then i would def make the lighter red 100% all the way through and overprint the darker red on top of the lighter red.

Ok let me see if I got that Silence04. So what you are saying is: use a solid 100% for the brighter red, then on top of that create a dark red to white gradient and overprint it? Thats it? Will a simple pdf suffice to send to the printer afterwards?
Well I just tried it out here at home and it looks great! As soon as I get in the office tomorrow I'll start on the real thing. Wow, never thought of that! Great tip!

Thanks so much for your help and to all others who posted.

I'll keep you posted!

[Silence04]

yep, thats it. the pdf will work fine too, just remind your printer that there is overprinting in the file. normally people don't keep Overprint Preview on, and that can really freak out people when they see the seps are different from the screen.

[yugyug]

typically when you fade 2 spots from 100% to 0% in one gradient the middle becomes muddy looking or much lighter.

I don't think this shouldn't happen if the printing angles are set up correctly. Or are you just talking optically, in the way our eyes percieve it?... in which case wouldn't it depend on the colors you used?

in anycase good luck with it - when I worked at a printshop the 2 spot gradients were always the biggest headache!

[Briss]

yep, thats it. the pdf will work fine too, just remind your printer that there is overprinting in the file. normally people don't keep Overprint Preview on, and that can really freak out people when they see the seps are different from the screen.

After your great tip, I started messing around with the gradient and managed to create the "darker red" by using a 30% black, instead which gave me exactly the same result plus the fact that I "gained" another colour which came in handy, still keeping the 3 colour limit.

Thanks again.

Briss

[Silence04]

That's Awesome Briss!!!!
overprinting is definitely a life saver, especially when you are limited on colors.
it can really turn a 2 color job into a 3 or 4 color job...

[panzer]

yeah i learnt a lot from this post guys thanks