Code 0006: Object uses spot colour

What is the problem?

Most commercial printers—including Launch Lab—use the CMYK colour space. This process combines four inks: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black, in varying amounts to produce a wide spectrum of colours. Nearly all printed materials you encounter—such as board games, flyers, magazines, and posters—are printed using CMYK.

You’ve received this error because your file contains a spot colour.

Unlike CMYK, which blends colours from multiple inks, spot colours use a single, pre-mixed ink to produce an exact shade. Spot colours are typically used by companies that require precise brand colour consistency across all printed materials. However, this method is more expensive and incompatible with standard CMYK printing.

Launch Lab’s print system does not support spot colours. To proceed, you’ll need to convert all spot colours in your file to CMYK.

How do I fix it?

The solution is similar across most design software: Open the Swatches panel, locate any spot colours, and convert them to CMYK.

Adobe Illustrator and InDesign

1. In the top menu, go to Window > Swatches.

   This opens the Swatches panel, showing all colours used in your document as squares.

2. Look for swatches with a dot in the bottom-right corner — this indicates a Spot Colour.

3. Double-click a Spot Colour swatch to open the Swatch Options panel.

4. In the Swatch Options panel:

   • Check the Name of the swatch.

     Important: If the swatch is named “dieline”, click Cancel, and move on to the next Spot Colour.

   • Set Colour Mode to CMYK.

   • Set Colour Type to Process Colour.

   • Rename the colour if you wish, using the Name field.

5. Click OK to apply the changes.
   The swatch should now appear as a plain square with no dot, confirming it’s now a CMYK colour.

6. Repeat these steps for any other Spot Colour swatches—excluding dieline.

Affinity Designer and Publisher

Unfortunately, Affinity software does not allow you to convert a Spot Colour to CMYK directly. Instead, you must delete and replace it.

1. In the top menu, go to View > Studio > Swatches.

   This opens the Swatches panel, which shows all colours used in your document.

2. Identify any swatches with a dot in the bottom-right corner — these are Spot Colours.

3. Right-click on the Spot Colour swatch and choose Delete Fill.

   Important: Do not delete the swatch named “dieline”.

4. After deleting the swatch, replace it in your artwork with a CMYK colour.

Further help

If this error still appears after uploading your updated file, please contact our team at support@launchtabletop.com for further assistance.