What is design for print? Using pantone/spot colours

Last year I bought 'The Print Handbook', a useful source of information for all things print. In addition to their pocket-sized booklet, they provide various, useful links on their website. The following is in relation to using a spot or pantone colour in addition to or in replacement of CMYK and the price it may cost. The following information was found on their site:

Pantone

Adding a Pantone colour to your normal CMYK is a great way of achieving colours which simply are not possible with 4 colour process printing. The example below from the Print Handbook is a great example of this. The Pantone here is a vibrant red which simply wasn't possible using just CMYK inks.

It's also possible to use a metallic or fluorescent ink which CMYK can get nowhere near in impact. It's a great way of adding an extra little something to your project.  Adding an extra colour is not as expensive as you might expect either.

Here's a quote from Centreprint for printing 10,000 leaflets.

In CMYK they'll cost £317. To add a spot colour would cost an extra £38. Not bad at all.


One colour job 

If you or your client are on a tight budget then using a Pantone spot colour for a one colour job can be a great way to save money. The same specification as the above quote, but this time printed with just one colour would cost £158.


These are the production details for the design below:

PRINT METHOD   Offset 
PAPER STOCK   Challenger, uncoated, 120gsm
NUMBER OF COLORS   1 Spot (Metallic PMS 876)

and the cost?

QUANTITY PRODUCED   3,000 
PRODUCTION COST   £520 ($788)

Source: underconsideration.com