One mark of high quality businesses--and high quality business cards, for that matter--is the use of spot color. These cards are printed using offset printing techniques. A "spot color" in offset printing is any color that is produced using a single run. Most often, four spot colors--cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black)--are used to create various colors in the spot color technique. Sometimes, though, for business cards that need fine tints of colors, two more colors, orange and green, are added to the set, creating what is known as the hexachromatic process. Using these two additional colors in an expert way can create a number of catchy tints. The business cards of many large companies use such tints. Often, big businesses will copyright their spot colors. UPS has its brown spot color as a trademark, purple is the trademark of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Tide has orange. Other businesses may not use these spot colors on their cards.
Most business cards employ at least two colors. The text is often in one spot color, and the logo in another. Often, there are multiple colors. Although, it's important to remember that too many colors will mar the elegance of your business cards. When designing cards, the best designers will pick only a few colors. There are software packages that will help you choose your design by using a combination of the most appealing colors. With the advent of digital and batch printing, it has become easier than ever to print full color business cards.
