Vinyl Bandits
  • About
  • Custom Quote
  • Vinyl Stickers
  • Laminated Stickers
  • Labels
  • Banners
  • Business Cards
  • SPECIALTY STICKERS
    • Holographic Stickers
    • Chrome Stickers
    • Glow in the Dark Stickers
    • Eggshell Stickers
  • Gallery
  • Blog
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Street Team
  • Reviews

RGB vs CMYK

11/22/2015

0 Comments

 

RGB VS CMYK ​

WHEN TO USE
WHICH AND WHY

 
As a designer, it is essential to know when to use RGB vs CMYK – CMYK: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (In the printing press days when plates were being used the black plate was typically call the “key” plate because it carried the important key information relating to the artistic detail.), and  RGB: red, green, blue colors on projects. A good rule of thumb is anything dealing with the web should always be in RGB and printed material should be in CMYK. But very few designers and clients know why this is the standard.

Here’s why…

Back in the printing press days, to achieve color, each ink (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) had its own plate. First the printer would lay down one color, wait for it to dry, lay down another color, wait for it to dry and so on. Printing presses still work on that same theory to this day with the exception that offset printers can use a “spot” color which can be added to achieve a specific color swatch (usually a Pantone color). As the printing age has progressed, the digital printer has come a long way, allowing to print in RGB as well. But the standard still stays the same – use CMYK on all printing needs, as the color will appear differently if printed in RGB.

On the other end, computer monitors give off colored light known as RGB (CMYK is colored ink). Computer monitors have a larger color gamut than printing, which is why a computer can display a million more colors than what can be achieved with printing. Printing deals with absorption and reflection of wavelengths of which we perceive as color (CMYK). Printing also has its own limited color gamut. A lot of times customers will note that something looked different on screen than it does on paper and it is because of the different color ranges that computer monitors and printing allows.

To go into further depth, RGB colors are also known as “additive color”, because there are no colors and the colors are being added together to achieve further colors or until the outcome is white (look at the color chart image directly below, the inside color is white because it is all the colors added together). This is because our eyes receive no reflected light and they perceive the color to be black. However, when you add portions of red + green + blue the outcome is the CMYK colors as shown below.


Picture
RGB COLORS ARE ADDITVE
While in return, subtract cyan – magenta – yellow – black and you will get the RGB colors. CMYK colors are subtractive for this very reason that it starts with all colors and when colors are subtracted the outcome is white (see below color swatch, the inside color is black). This is because the colors absorb the light.
Picture
CMYK COLORS ARE SUBTRACTIVE
To further summarize what has been discussed, when it comes to deciding to use RGB vs CMYK, first figure out what the output will be. If the output will be on a computer monitor then RGB is the way to go. If the piece will be printed, CMYK is usually the standard and the best option. Thats all there is to it when it comes to using RGB vs CMYK colors on your projects.
0 Comments

    Author

    Petie Petunia

    Categories

    All
    Best Vinyl Sticker To Use
    Custom Chrome Stickers
    Custom Graffiti Slap Stickers
    Custom Hard Hat Stickers
    Custom Laptop Stickers
    Custom Lighter Sticker Wraps
    Glow In The Dark Stickers
    History Of Labels & Stickers
    How A Tattoo Artist Can Show Off Their Artwork With Making Custom Stickers
    Kiss Vs Die Cut
    No Bleed Vs Full Bleed
    RGB Vs CMYK
    Sticker Labels For Your Products
    Stickers Marketing Tool
    Vector Vs Raster Files
    What You Should Know About Your Beauty And Health Labels?
    Why You Should Consider Custom Holographic Stickers For Your Brand?

    Archives

    December 2022
    May 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    July 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015

   Home / Contact Us / About Us / FAQs / Quote / Terms and Conditions / Street Team 

Picture
© 2023Vinyl Bandits

  • About
  • Custom Quote
  • Vinyl Stickers
  • Laminated Stickers
  • Labels
  • Banners
  • Business Cards
  • SPECIALTY STICKERS
    • Holographic Stickers
    • Chrome Stickers
    • Glow in the Dark Stickers
    • Eggshell Stickers
  • Gallery
  • Blog
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Street Team
  • Reviews