Setting up for a 2 color job

[cricketann]

I have been designing for years but have never had to send a 2 color job to a printer. I have been searching for days on the process of creating this in photoshop and illustrator. All of the instructions seem to start half way through the process. I need complete instructions. "Dummy proof". I have a fundraising card project. It seems pretty simple. The background is red, the font is black to white gradient and the image is gray scale. When I do it in illustrator I can't figure out if my gradient is a spot and I can't get the white box off of the image. I've tried several processes to bringing it over from photoshop, including a transparant eps. When I do it in photoshop in puts the red inside the image and the font. HELP!!! I think I would rather work in photoshop, but it really doesn't matter at this point.:confused:

[rickself]

If you'd rather work in Photoshop, use the Magenta and Black channels of cmyk. Tell your printer to use ink Pantone XXX for the Magenta. Remember tho, that Photoshop is only your best option for raster images. Slide over to Illustrator for the vector images and type.

The real bugaboo about using magenta and black is showing the proof to the client. Clients sem to need to see the colors on the proof that they're going to see in print.

But, for the simplest solution, use 2 channels of cmyk. I've used this on hundreds of occasions.

Choosing spot colors in Illy is not that tough. Open a swatch library and pick your spot color.

[cricketann]

Thanks for the reply that helps. I know there are several ways to do the same thing. Is there anyone else who would like to take a shot at giving me some advice on this 2 color job.
Christan

[Briss]

When I do it in illustrator I can't figure out if my gradient is a spot...:confused:

Hi Cricketann, to make sure your gradient is a spot colour try dragging the spot directly from the swatches pallette (while object is selected) onto the buckets in the gradient pallette. Set your white to 0% of that particular spot and 100% or any other percentage to the other buckets.

Its a bit hard to help out on the other issues without any visuals.

Hope this helps, even if partially.

Briss

[style]

i recently had to do a job limiting me in colours in illustrator... i dont know if its the same thing but it sounds like it.
anyways what i did was i chose the colours i needed and then when i wanted a certain part either lighter or darker i selected the fill part and either upped or downed the percentage on it... makes any sense?
anyways good luck... hope it helps even a bit!