Printing 101
What's the difference between RGB and CMYK? Which color profile should I use for my artwork?
To prevent any unexpected shifts in color appearance between what you see on your screen and what you see on your printed packaging, we recommend using CMYK color mode when creating your packaging designs. Keep reading to learn more!
What is RGB color mode?
RGB (Red, Green, Blue) color mode is used on websites, on-screen photos and images, and anything else that will be viewed only on screen.
RGB colors are created by combining the three different colors of light on your screen. If you look very closely at an older TV or computer monitor, you'll see that every image is made up of red, green, and blue light-emitting dots. If you are creating an image to be displayed on a computer, TV, or phone screen, RGB would be ideal for defining your colors.
What is CMYK color mode?
CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) color mode is used for print, such as your packaging! Digital and offset presses (and even your home printer!) use CMYK inks, so RGB colors and other color modes must be converted to CMYK for printing. After this conversion, some colors may appear dull or desaturated—and we're sure you don't want that!
CMYK printing is done by combining the four physical ink colors to produce all of the colors in your printed design. With CMYK printing, you can print a wide spectrum of colors, but it's not possible to replicate some of the hues (especially very bright or neon colors) that can be created only with RGB lights on a screen.
Do I need to provide my artwork in CMYK color mode?
In many cases, there is no CMYK equivalent for an RGB color, so color shifts can occur, and colors may appear dull or less saturated in print than they did on screen. This is why we strongly recommend that you create and provide your artwork in CMYK color mode.
Some software programs, such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat, have built-in functionality to better represent CMYK colors on computer monitors. If you have one of these software programs installed on your computer, it can help you convert and preview the artwork with better accuracy.
For the most accurate print results, we recommend creating and saving your artwork in CMYK color mode. For more advanced users, we recommend designing within the Coated GRACoL 2006 color profile. This will give the closest on-screen representation of your artwork in print.
You can also use our online 3D Design Tool to set the color of shapes and text to your desired color. For example, the color build for the front panel of this box is: 100c, 0m, 39y, 10k.
