Speaking of package printing, you will most likely hear the term “CMYK“, RGB, and Pantone. When you have a project commercially printed, you need to choose the printing color you need. Do you know which one can help you to choose colors and which one makes the printing machine work?
What is CMYK?
CMYK is an acronym for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black.
They represent four primary colors of pigment used in 4 Color Process Printing.
It uses the principle of mixing the three primary colors and adding black ink.
In specific dot patterns that vary in size and frequency, it can create a combination of any color with a fraction of the ink.
RGB vs. CMYK
CMYK has one major difference compared to RGB.
RGB is a color mode where the screen display glows and you can still see what’s on the screen in a dark room.
CMYK is a color mode used for print that relies on reflections. How do we read the content of a newspaper? It is the sunlight or light that shines on the newspaper and then reflects to our eyes to see the content. It requires an external light source, and if you are in a dark room it is impossible to read the newspaper.
As long as the image is displayed on the screen, it is the RGB mode representation. As long as the image is seen on the print, it is the CMYK mode performance. For example, journals, magazines, newspapers, posters, etc., are printed, so it is CMYK mode.
RGB will need to be converted to CMYK color space for printing
RGB Colors may look great on screen, but they will need to be converted to CMYK color space before supplying your art files to the printing machine.
About Pantone
Before Pantone, every printing company had their own color guide; “yellow” was printed differently depending on how each individual ink company interpreted that color to look. Some yellows were darker than others; some were more orange and some were more green. And it was never exactly what the designer had in mind.
In 1963, Pantone (meaning “all colors”, combining pan and tone) developed the first color matching system(The Pantone Matching System-PMS). Thanks to this system, graphic designers can see exactly what “yellow” would look like on paper and provide the printing machine with the Pantone number to make sure that they got what they wanted.
Here is the Pantone website, you can check it when you have any needs.
In conclusion
To sum up, the printing machine needs CMYK color space instead of RGB. Or you can use Pantone to choose the specific color you want. Do you have any questions about package printing? Welcome to leave your comments here or contact me directly!
Email: sales01@huiyougroup.cn
