What Happens When a Spot Color Is Converted to CMYK?

When a spot or Pantone (PMS) color is converted to CMYK, the four CMYK inks—Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black—are combined to reproduce the original spot color as closely as possible.

Because CMYK has a different color range than spot-color printing, some color shift may occur during conversion, and an exact match is not always possible. This is especially important when an order moves from Dry Offset printing to in-house Heat Transfer Labeling (HTL), since M&M’s in-house Xeikon printing uses CMYK.

Customers should be aware that a Pantone color previously printed with Dry Offset may appear slightly different when reproduced with CMYK through Heat Transfer Labeling.