CMYK vs. RGB

When designing a full color business cards use the CMYK color space – There are a primary color spaces used when designing which are CMYK and RGB. For simplicity sake, RGB should be used when designing graphics that will be displayed on the web or mobile devices, and CMYK for printing. This is because not all colors that can be displayed on your on screen can be printed. See the image below that shows the difference between available visible colors and those that can be produced in the RGB and CMYK (Pantone is also listed but not discussed in this article). An outline for the CMYK and RGB color gamut are identified and you can see CMYK color gamut is much smaller.

We (Printers) print using the following colors Cyan, Yellow, Magenta and Black (CMYK) during the printing process so it is best to design in this color space. When designing in RGB but printing in CMYK, you may notice color shifting on your final printed product. This is because the colors that don’t exist on the CMYK gamut but have been choose in an RGB design have to be replaced with their closest CMYK equivalent which isn’t always as close as you would hope. There are many colors that do this, but very bright colors like a construction orange, or a Monster® green tend to be much more dull on paper than on screen. Likewise, color such as royal blues may print more purple, and blacks may not be as dark as expected. This is because not all colors that are available in the RGB color gamut are available in the CMYK color gamut. Design programs and the software we use to prepare files for print are fantastic at matching colors that overlap in both color spectrums but expect shifting on those that don’t. Look at the following picture of our rainbow to see one image created in RGB and then what it looks like after being converted to CMYK.

This is why it is important for you or your designer to begin the design in CMYK so that you can choose the colors from that work for your design from that color space. If your design program doesn’t offer CMYK as a design option, it doesn’t mean you cannot design in it, just make sure to discuss this with Las Vegas Color Printing or your print shop before the job goes to press. At Las Vegas Color Printing, we proof all files before sending them to proof and checking for CMYK color space is one of many checks that we perform. If we notice that the file is in or has RGB components, we will notify you prior to production and show you a digital proof of your design converted to CMYK so that you can check and approve any color shifting that may have occurred.