Abstract: A color ink-jet pen for printing different colors of ink while simultaneously minimizing or eliminating color bleed. The pen includes a printhead having a nozzle plate for ejecting ink from the printhead onto the print medium. The nozzle plate includes a plurality of groups of nozzles, with each nozzle group dispensing a different color of ink and with adjacent nozzles in each group being separated by an index length. Adjacent groups of nozzles are always separated from each other by a group spacing distance greater than the index length. The group spacing distance is equal to an integer multiple of the index length, yet less than the swath width for each group. The pen is used in an ink-jet printer wherein the swath advance distance by which the paper is advanced between each swath is equal to the number of nozzles within a color group times the index distance.