Is spot color or four-color process greener?

It depends on the job, and neither one is always the greener choice.

On a small offset run with one or two colors, spot color can use fewer inks and fewer plates than four-color process, which means less setup material and less make-ready waste. A logo printed in one or two spot colors on a business card or letterhead is a common example.

Once a design includes photographs or many colors, four-color process is usually more practical, since matching that range with spot inks would take more plates, not fewer. For very short runs, digital printing avoids plates altogether. Tell us about the design and the quantity when you request a quote, and we can talk through which method suits it.