Proofing spot and special-mix colors before printing

After the ink has been mixed, it needs to be tested with something called a draw down. Now a draw down just involves sort of a miniature version of printing the ink on press. Now he's loading up that brayer, so that he gets a uniform coverage. He applies it to the platten, makes sure that he has adequate ink coverage. And after years of doing this, he knows when it's right, and now what he's going to do is he's going to transfer that ink to the blanket, bring it over and apply it to the paper. So, this means that the coverage of the ink on the paper is at the same thickness, that would be achieved on press.

And if that's correct then he knows he's mixed that ink correctly. (SOUND) Now he's comparing Pantone formula guide. Which is used as the ink reference to that drawdown sample. And if it matches under that control lighting, he knows that, that ink is correct. And that means it's ready to send to the pressman and start running the job.