CMYK verses RGB

We could go into lots of technical jargon about the different colour spaces but that would take up a website on its own, but the basics are set out below.

RGB is an additive colour space which is used for monitors (LCD/CRT), so it is used for creating graphics and images for TV and Web.

CMYK on the other hand is a subtractive colour space and is used in printing processes whether its litho, newspaper, digital print or screen printing.

It is always best to create artwork in a cmyk mode as this will give you a relatively good representation of what the colours will look like. Certain windows applications like word cannot work in cmyk and only know rgb, its always best to ask for advice/proofs if you have to supply artwork in word.

We have a number of profiles and workflow setups which change rgb colours in cmyk to give the best colour conversion, but its worth noting that cmyk has a smaller colour space than rgb and cannot reproduce all colours as brightly.