If you have ever submitted anything to a print shop, you’ve probably heard one of the most common lines used: we need your files in CMYK along with very specific filetypes.
It seems meaningless, but it actually makes a huge difference in the output of your printed work.
CMYK is the standard for printers; ironically, everything we do is online, and RGB is the standard for most computer monitors. Without some insight, most people go about building their entire color scheme online without every considering how it’ll look with traditional (printed) media.
I’m going to briefly walk you through some of the key differences, so that next time you submit print art you’re ready to go.
RGB is a color model that stands for red, green, blue. These colors are the primary colors of light. Hence, when you mix those colors and apply light, you end up with a visual color of your choice. And at full light intensity you’ll see white, and with no intensity you’ll see black.
RGB is dependent on the type of display providing light. All this means is that every display will pick up on RGB and what you see will differ depending on where and how you see it. Said differently, my screen will show you one thing, and your screen will show you something slightly different.
Here’s what an image of RGB looks like:
CMYK is also a color model and it stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and key (black).
During the print process, CMYK is applied to a media (generally white backing), and as ink is applied, the white backing visibility is slowly removed – e.g. the colors are subtracting from the (red, green, and blue) white light shown.
An example is removing red from white – you’ll end up with Cyan, and so forth.
And this basically describes how printers work in general.
When you combine all the CMYK colors together, you end up with a muddy/brownish color. It’s close to black, but it isn’t, which is why printers typically have a black ink set up.
CMYK setup:
It matters because your media will not turn out as expected unless you know to make the adjustments before printing.
Not all printers are created equal. Some may convert the colors for you. Others may charge you. And yet some will force you to submit the file exactly as you’d like to see it printed.
And none of those are incorrect… just different ways of doing business.
They key for you is to pay attention to your file output.
Because most people use Canva these days, it’s important to make sure that your output from that platform to your printer is in the format closest to what you’d like to see on your media.
This is critical because when a printer starts working with the file, most of the software used will automatically convert the file to CMYK prior to printing.
If you don’t catch the change before the conversion, it’ll be hard to see it before it gets printed. In some cases, the conversion is so far off that it’s easy to tell that something is wrong, but that’s not always the case.
The challenge for printing comes in at the point of conversion.
Since RGB and CMYK are entirely different color gamut’s, the conversion process can be very difficult and sometimes can not happen at all.
Because RGB is used in design and online, and CMYK is used in print, the output of the conversion can be significantly different that what you are expecting. The reason is much of what we already mentioned: the process to produce the color is polar opposites.
The conversion will get you close in most cases – it’s entirely dependent on the software being used, the color your expecting to print, and the designer that is doing the color matching.
In media cases, particularly with high runs, printers are willing to do a few sample prints of the color being converted, so that you’re able to get it close to your desired output before the final run of the product begins.
Make sure to ask for samples. It doesn’t hurt.
The easiest way to prevent this is to start your branding with this in mind. However, inmost cases, that’s not practical nor is it applicable.
The next way to prevent this is to work with your desired printer. Ask them to help you with color conversions on your next print, and don’t forget to ask for a few samples.
Spend a little time on the front end to get your color matching down – get it as close as possible. This will save you so much time and money on the back end.
Once all of the color matching is done, you will be set up going forward. Your printer should keep these files on hand for you (they should share them as well), so that every time you need to print something, you already have the colors for your brand that you’ve approved.
If you need any help with color matching, please feel free to reach out to us. We do color conversions for free – contact us here.
