The primary stage in ink manufacturing, in which the solid particles of pigment, or coloring matter, are introduced and dispersed into the fluid ink vehicle. The pigment particles can be in flake, chip, flushed, or predispersed form. Depending upon the desired end-use characteristics of the ink and the size and hardness of the particles themselves, the ink slurry (the combination of pigment and vehicle) may require one or more passes through the mixer, or may require further milling to further grind and disperse the particles. Many inks today, such as inks used in web offset lithography, utilize flushed color pigments which are then dispersed into the vehicle by high-speed and high-shear mixers or high-speed dispersers, and are then sent right to the filtration stage without the need for further milling.
In typography, the term mixing refers to the setting of a word, line, or block of type containing more than one typeface or point size.