Printed By Erik Many Opinions, Few Thoughts and Crazy Ideas

RGB vs CMYK

"Could we print the brochure in RGB? You know, it would be cheaper if we use one color less…"

To those who are unfamiliar with the world of printing; offset and digital printing requires 4 basic colors to make up the wide range of colors that are represented in the natural world: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.

In the digital/computer/television world, it is all made up of 3 colors, Red, Green and Blue. The combinations of these 3 colors are an interpretation of the actual natural light colors on your monitor.

If you look closely at your monitor, it’s made up of tiny RGB lights and if you look closely at a full color printed material, it’s made up of CMYK dots. This is what makes printing work.

RGB – Good for computer/digital use. Bad and not usable for printing (paper or clothing)
CMYK – Good for offset and digital printing. Bad and not interpreted correctly on the computer

About Erik Shultz

Print and Production Guru | Design Maverick, Author & Admin of this exciting blog about printing.