RGB is an abbreviation of Red Green Blue - red, green and blue - the three colors that mix the 256 colors in the RGB color range.
Computer screens, phone screens, tablets, TVs reproduce different colors by mixing red, green and blue lights in different proportions and intensities.
CMYK stands for Cyan Magenta Yellow Black - the four colors that blend all shades of the CMYK color gamut.
Printing machines and color printers reproduce different colors by mixing 4 inks - cyan, magenta, yellow and black.
The RGB range is wider than the CMYK range. there are color shades that you can see on the screen, but cannot be reproduced by printing inks. These are mostly very bright colors, especially in the blue range, electric green and others.
Therefore, additional special inks can be used for offset printing, as well as for some professional digital printing devices. There are also inks that mimic gold and silver.
Which color space is best for your files?
Professional bitmap and vector graphics programs let you choose which color space to create your files in. They also show you a warning when a color is out of print. And they can show you how this color will change when printed.
If you create images that are only displayed on the screen, e.g. pictures and ads for a website, social networks or mobile application, then RGB files are more appropriate.
When creating a design for printed advertising materials and packaging from paper and cardboard, the final print file must be in CMYK color space.
If you are creating a vision that is for the web, but it is possible that the client later decides to print it on a paper flyer, then anticipate this possibility at the beginning by creating your files with the physical size, resolution and color required for printing.
Years ago, it was almost mandatory to "snap" all your bitmaps before adding them to the paging program. Today, InDesign successfully converts to CMYK backgrounds and photos directly when exporting to pdf. Photos from paid photobanks have usually already gone through a retouching process, and automatically clicking them in InDesign doesn't cause serious problems.
Of course, if you've done retouching or effects in Photoshop, it might be a better idea to flatten and click your files there.
When creating complex gradients and objects with RGB transparency, keep in mind that they can change drastically when you change the color space. In such cases, you can try to flatten the image before converting it to CMYK. It is a good idea to always keep the original RGB image and click a copy so that you can make further adjustments.
Free programs like Canva, Inkscape, Gimp, and Pixlr Editor only work in RGB. Therefore, additional prepress is often required when submitting files from these printing programs.
When are RGB files a problem when printing?
When there are colors outside in the images CMYK гамата.
If you have chosen for your design electric green, very bright deep blue, some bright shades of pink and cyclamen, they will look much more muted, pastel and dark when printed. If you click your files yourself, you won't be unpleasantly surprised by the color change and will be able to edit the design before printing if necessary.
When there are small texts in black.
When RGB images are automatically converted to CMYK, black elements do not become 100% black and will not be printed with black ink alone, but from a mixture of the other three inks. However, small texts look much clearer and clearer when printed in thick black overprint ink on the background.
This is especially true when the edition needs to be printed on offset printing.
Когато при печата ще се използват специални мастила.
If you want to have gold bronze or partial varnish on your business card, your file must be in CMYK and the additional colors must be set as spot colors.
If you need assistance in the design and pre-printing of your advertising materials and packaging, the professionals of Elestra are at your disposal.