RGB to CMYK
jkidd (6 pencils) | Thu, 2009-01-08 18:03I'm a non-designer with a design question: If you go to my website, www.publicsquare.net, you'll see my logo in the upper left, which contains a bright, vibrant blue. But when it's converted to CMYK for printing, it turns into a pale, purplish blue.
I want the blue in my print products to match the blue on the website. I realize I'll have to create a version of the logo that's for print only. But how do I do that?
Thanks in advance.
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Judging from my monitor in Safari (calibrated, color managed), the logo appears rather purple. Perhaps you can upload a JPEG RGB version of the logo? Currently, it is GIF/Indexed.
Without my sense of direction, I don't know where I'd be.
To color manage? What kind of Hardware?
"Try not, Do! or do not, there is no try."
-Yoda
I use an XRite DTP91 Colorimeter & Monaco Profiler Pro, but almost any package will do. A brief google revealed this bundled product which looks pretty good. Profiling monitors is easy and very affordable and can save on expensive mistakes.
http://www.mbsdirect.com/product.php?productid=17416
Without my sense of direction, I don't know where I'd be.
Simply put: There's many colors that can not be reproduced in CMYK. RGB is basically for Video Display (Millions of colors available) and CMYK is for printing (Thousands of colors available).
I always explain it this way: Hold your hands as far apart as you can. That's how many colors there are. Move your hands about a foot apart. That's how many colors humans can see in RGB mode. Now, move your hands about 3 inches from each other. That's how many colors we can print using CMYK colorspace.
Florescent metallic and neon colors can't be printed using CMYK either. These are spot color inks and come out of the bucket that color. This, as opposed to CMYK, which is a translucent ink system, allowing printers to lay down a solid or screened cyan (c) and a solid or screened yellow (y) to get varying shades of green.
I pulled your logo into Photoshop and told Photoshop to show me all the colors that wouldn't print in CMYK (Gamut Warning). And you are correct. The blue guy went totally gray. Meaning the blue guy isn't going to print in the same blue that's displayed on-screen. That Blue isn't a color that CMYK can print.
I'd tell your printer to print your logo using a spot color like a Pantone. That way, you'd get the bright blue that you're looking for every time.
Hope this helps.
Terrell Thornhill
e-zign Design Group
this is one of the downsides to having someone who hasn't been through this kind of issue before designing logos. there are a lot of potential color hazards that you can run into if you haven't dealt with them before, especially with printing.
even picking pantone colors isn't always safe. some pantone colors aren't very reproducable in CMYK. some print *very* differently on coated and uncoated papers (I ran into this problem with a prior employer, whose purple printed dark on coated and light on uncoated, but they didn't know until they printed stuff on both).
and issues can get even worse when you're working with gradients.
so it's very important to check all of these things before selecting a permanent corporate color palette (which the logo should be part of).
i'm not sure what to tell you to do with your logo. my best advice would be to look into what colors you can print that are closest to your actual colors. best case, you could change all of your corporate colors to something that represents well both online and in print. worst case your printed material won't be crazy far off from your online materials.
check with your printer to see if they have some CMYK color build charts printed from their presses. a number of the bigger printers around me have done that and you can use those to get a better sense of how specific color builds (CMYK percentages) will print and you can try to find a build that is at least in the vicinity of your colors.
You'd have to create paper made out of LCD Screen material and then plug it into the wall. ;)
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Natobasso
dirtandrust.com
"Powerpoint is not a design application"
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Dirt and Rust
I'd pick a 285 Blue PMS and 485 Red PMS; they translate well to print. But if you are short on cash you might just convert those to CMYK and be done with it.
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Natobasso
dirtandrust.com
"Powerpoint is not a design application"
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Dirt and Rust
just what I was going to suggest ;)
go to the printer and pick a PMS color and say "make it match this"
if you can convert it yourself to PMS channels, you'll save a bunch of money, and eliminate any color mistakes at the printer (hopefully since it'll be tagged in the file)
but once you tell them "match this" and it's part of the quoted price, then they have to match it for that price, even though it may be difficult to do dependng on how they try to accomplish it.
"...and mamma cried: Watch out where the huskies go, don't you eat that yellow snow" - Frank Zappa
Yet another great example of why it pays to hire a real designer instead of having the office receptionist, or the $50 logo designer types to do logo work.
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Thanks. That's helpful.