Digital Extra: The Journal's 175th Anniversary

07.21.2004

1961. 'Spot color' debuts on Journal pages

You are not hallucinating, The Journal assured readers in March 1961. The splashes of "spot color" in the paper were real.

"Thus begins a new phase in the printing of your daily newspapers," The Journal wrote. "The traditional black ink is being supplemented by another color on the high-speed Journal-Bulletin presses."

The new process, known as spot color, was expected to liven some of the paper's advertisements.

"As a reader you have no idea how important your attention is to an advertiser," the paper wrote. "Every day he spends thousands of dollars just to get you to pause for a few moments in your reading. He wants to tell you about his product or service."

Readers most likely are more interested in the news, the paper wrote, though they also pay attention to the ads.

"Women are avid readers of department store, food and market advertising," The Journal said. "Men like to read about such things as new cars, fishing and sporting equipment.

" . . . Advertisers must compete with news items and with each other for your attention. That's why color is so important to them. And that's why they are willing to pay a premium just to get a spot or so of color in their ads. Color gets attention. It may also suggest a mood. Red, for instance, may create a feeling of warmth; blue, the sea and the sky; yellow, the sunlight."

The Journal followed with a lengthy description of the complicated process to get color into the paper, complete with photographs of what was then a 16-step process.