So, what's the difference between RGB & CMYK?

When supplying files for full colour printing, it is important that you supply your artwork in the correct mode or colour space. Many software programs give you the choice to work in either RGB mode or CMYK mode, CMYK mode is the correct colour space for full colour printing.

RGB stands for Red, Green and Blue which are the primary colours of light. Scanners and digital cameras generally create images using combinations of the three RGB colours. When you save a scanned image or photo taken with your digital camera, it will normally be saved in RGB mode unless otherwise specified. Artwork, images and photographs created in RGB mode are fine for use on websites, however, they cannot be used for printing on professional litho print presses. We can use RGB images for digital printing as the software that drives the digital press converts the images automatically to CMYK with relatively little loss in colour density.

CMYK - Printing presses print full colour images using a different set of colours to RGB. Generally, full colour images are created using the primary colours of pigment: Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow and Black, otherwise known as "CMYK printing" or "4 colour process", black is designated the letter "K" to avoid confusion with "B" for blue. Because the inks used are translucent they can be overprinted and combined in a variety of different proportions to produce a wide range of colours. In theory an overprint of all 3 process colours Cyan, Magenta and Yellow produces the appearance of black, however, in reality this is a muddy brown, for this reason black is used as the fourth printing ink.

If you have any questions or require any further information then do not hesitate to call us on 01202 576266 or email: sales@premierprint.co.uk