Colored Substrate
White Ink White Ink

Feather

Any Colored Substrate

White Ink Only

Feather Sample 1

The Feather bookmark demonstrates the power of white ink printing on colored substrates. HP Indigo's ElectroInk White enables stunning contrast and opacity where traditional CMYK would be invisible.

Credit: Black Birch Design Studio

About White Ink

White ink enables printing on colored and dark substrates where traditional CMYK would be invisible or muted. HP Indigo's ElectroInk White provides excellent opacity in a single pass, creating stunning contrast against colored papers.

Unlike screen printing white, HP Indigo white ink can be applied with photographic precision - no minimum line weights, no registration issues, and full variable data capability.

Best Practices

File Setup

Gallery

Download Sample Files (PDF)
Adobe Illustrator

White Ink Spot Color Setup

Creating HP White 1 spot color in Adobe Illustrator

Step 1 of 8
Illustrator Swatches Panel

Open the Swatches Panel

In Adobe Illustrator, go to Window > Swatches to open the Swatches panel. This is where you'll create the HP White 1 spot color.

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You can also use the keyboard shortcut F5 to toggle the Swatches panel.

Selection of White Ink Artwork

Select White Ink Artwork

Select all the artwork elements that should print with white ink. These are typically elements designed to appear on colored or dark substrates.

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Use Select > Same > Fill Color to quickly select all elements with the same fill.

New Swatch Dialog

Create New Spot Color Swatch

Click the Swatches panel menu and select New Swatch. In the dialog:

  • Swatch Name: HP White 1
  • Color Type: Spot Color
  • Color Mode: CMYK
  • Set Cyan to 100% (for visibility)
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Critical: The name must be exactly HP White 1 with correct capitalization and spacing for the press to recognize it.

Swatches Panel with HP White 1

Verify Swatch Created

Your Swatches panel should now show the HP White 1 spot color swatch. It will appear with a white triangle in the corner indicating it's a spot color.

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The spot color indicator (white triangle) confirms the color will output as a separate ink channel.

Applying Spot Color

Apply Spot Color to Artwork

With your white ink artwork selected, click the HP White 1 swatch to apply it as the fill color. The artwork will appear cyan (the preview color) but will print as white ink.

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The cyan preview is just for visibility - the actual output will be white ink on press.

Windows Menu - Attributes

Open the Attributes Panel

With your HP White 1 artwork still selected, go to Window > Attributes to open the Attributes panel. This panel controls overprint settings.

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Important: The next step is critical - white ink must be set to overprint for proper layering on press.

Attributes Panel - Overprint Fill

Enable Overprint Fill

In the Attributes panel, check the Overprint Fill checkbox. This ensures the white ink prints on top of other layers rather than knocking them out.

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Critical: White ink must be set to overprint. Without this setting, white ink areas will knock out underlying artwork, causing registration issues and gaps.

Separations Preview

Verify in Separations Preview

Go to Window > Separations Preview and toggle the visibility of each separation. You should see:

  • CMYK channels: Empty or minimal content
  • HP White 1: Your white ink artwork (with overprint)
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If HP White 1 doesn't appear as a separate channel, the spot color wasn't created correctly. Go back to Step 3.