What are the reasons behind four coloured circles at the bottom of all pages of newspaper?

Newspaper reading is still a preferred choice of many in the digital era. We often find that a few people eagerly await the morning newspaper instead of a sea of news portals in the form of Apps available on their mobile phones. 

Change is inevitable, and the same applies to newspapers. However, one thing that remains unchanged is the four circles at the bottom of every page. Have you ever noticed it? 

There are four small colored circles at the bottom of each page. But have you ever wondered about their purpose and why they are always placed at the bottom?

These coloured circles are part of the printing process and serve as markers for correct alignment. As we studied in school, primary colors like red, yellow, and blue cannot be formed by mixing other colors. These colors are essential for producing a wide range of shades, and the printing process introduced an additional color, Black, to create a complete colour model for publications.

The four coloured circles in newspapers display the CMYK model where ‘C’ stands for Cyan(Blue), ‘M’ stands for Magenta, ‘Y’ for Yellow and ‘K’ for Black. 

The concept of CMYK is important in printing while giving colourful pictures and headlines in newspapers. During the printing of newspapers, separate plates are used to signify each of four colours. The alignment of these plates are important in order to get sharp and fine images. If the alignment is not perfect, it would produce a blurry image. 

The paradigm is not constrained to newspapers only but it is used in publication of books and magazines too. The Eagle Printing company introduced the CMYK model in 1906 and since then it is a standard practice.