As a working print designer, I had to learn very early on about the offset lithography process (also called four-color printing) and how it works. Basically, all full-color images are composed of combinations of four components: cyan (blue), magenta (a pinkish red), yellow, and black (referred to by printers as K so as not be confused with blue). White is taken care of by the color of the paper itself. If you have a personal printer at home, then you know that there are four ink cartridges containing these colors inside, and the black one usually runs out first, because it’s used in just about everything.
These colors are broken down into dot patterns called half-tone screens, and when combined in the right ways, they can make just about any other color you can imagine (except fluorescents or metallics; they require their own special inks).
First impression: A brilliant system—from four simple building blocks, you can create millions of options.