There are several colour formats and systems available for mixing and specifying colours. Here, we explain three of the most common systems: RGB, CMYK, and Pantone colours. RGB Colour "RGB" refers to the colours of light that mix to create colours. There are three basic colours of light - red, green and blue. When combined, they create an entire rainbow of colours, either by reflecting off, surfaces or by shining onto surfaces. In design, RGB colour is only used in website design and other designs that are only meant to be seen on your screen (software user interfaces, HTML email, PowerPoint presentations, and TV or movie graphics). If you send a design to be printed, or print a design that has been created in the RGB colour space on your home printer, the printout may not match what you see on the screen - RGB colours on the screen tend to be brighter than what is printed on paper. This is because the colours onscreen are created with light, which adds brightness of its own to the colours. When printing on paper, the light is taken out of the equation. The other reason for this is that an RGB colour can be "out of gamut" for CMYK printing, meaning that some of the colours cannot be replicated with printing inks. CMYK Colour CMYK colour is also known as four-color printing, full-colour printing, or process colour printing. CMYK refers to the printing process. In CMYK printing, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (the "K") inks are printed on the paper as tiny dots (referred to as a "screen" or "line screen"). These dots are so tiny that when they combine visually, they create a rainbow of colours. This process is used in projects where printing the full range of colour is required - in projects with full-colour photography or when more than three colours overall are used in the design. For the production of CMYK printing, digital printing is a more economical choice than full-colour press printing. However, in digital printing, the types, colours, and thickness of paper available are often limited, based on the printing machine's specifications and capabilities. The accuracy limitations of CMYK printing are that the results between different printing methods - digital printing versus press printing - can vary, sometimes greatly, depending on the printer's range, how it is calibrated, and the particular colour you are trying to print. Even the results from different digital printers or presses can vary, so colour accuracy may be an issue, particularly if you're printing items at different times or with different printers. There are also colours that cannot be reproduced using the CMYK process - such as metallics, and very bright colours. To expand the colour range, additional colours can be added to the mix to increase the range, for six- or seven-colour printing. Alternatively, Pantone colours can be used to increase the range - going to five-colour (or more) printing to get the colour accuracy you need. Pantone Colour Pantone colour is also known as the Pantone Matching System, PMS colour, or Spot colour. This colour system is based on a set of inks that are mixed to create solid colours, which are then used to print your materials. These colours fall in a specified range, found in several swatch books produced by the Pantone Company. An analogy for this system is the coloured paint chips found at the hardware store - you can preview the colours exactly as they will appear in the final print job. Also, since the colours are mixed before printing, instead of being created visually out of tiny dots on the page, they're much more accurate and consistent from print job to print job, as well as to the colours initially intended in the art, than CMYK colour. Pantone colours can be "screened" – a process in which fewer dots of colour are used per inch, which makes the colour appear lighter. Thus, more colours appear to be being used in a project, without increasing the printing costs or number of colours. Pantone colours are often used on logos or stationery packages (business cards, letterhead, and envelopes), to enable those pieces to be printed on a press using one, two or three colours, which is less expensive than four-color printing (see CMYK colour, above). Using Pantone colours on your logo also ensures accurate colour representation for your logo in all applications - so that your carefully chosen corporate colour will always be the same, regardless of the printing firm you choose to print a particular piece of collateral. Using the right colour format throughout your job will save you money and make your marketing materials look their best.

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