newslettersm_duotone.gif Printing your marketing materials can be an expensive proposition. However, cutting costs does not mean cutting quality—in design or otherwise. There are many creative ways to have your printed pieces retain impact while not hurting your wallet. One of these is the printing format duotone.

The typical full-color print job is separated for press in four colors: cyan, yellow, magenta, and black. These are called “process” colors, and they mix to create just about any color you could want. Unfortunately, this can be costly and not in the price range of some. Yet, there is a “color compromise” out there! Duotone separates a full-color image to only two colors. Used creatively this can have the power of a full color print, sometimes being even more striking, depending on the colors chosen. Often the corporate color of the client is used with an additional complimentary color. This has the added benefit of matching the customer’s color perfectly while being cost-effective.

If you are willing to be daring, there is also tritone, quadtone and so forth. Increasing the number of colors used in the print, respectively. Any spot color can be used in this process, including metallics, which lend themselves to many great effects.