Understanding color for print and web

One of the most common questions I get from my clients is, “I really like this color I see on my screen. Why can’t we just use that exact color for my logo?”

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. What you can see on your screen and what you can print are totally different things. Your monitor is showing colors in the form of light, and print is showing colors in the form of physical ink on paper. When you print your identity materials, it’s important to understand a few basic things about color, so that you always know what to expect.

It is inevitable that colors will look different depending on the medium.

It’s extremely important to spend time selecting the colors that work best for each usage. Our purpose as designers is to help you select colors that are going to look more or less the same, whether you’re printing on paper, plastic, fabric, using embroidery threads, or viewing it on the web. I say “more or less” because it is physically impossible to make a color look the same across the board. There are simply too many physical differences between the various types of media.

And to complicate matters even further, what you see on your monitor may be very different from what someone else sees on their monitor… it all depends on the “gamma” (brightness and contrast) of the particular make and model of your monitor, not to mention your specific monitor’s settings, the brightness of the room you’re in, your own ability to perceive color (did you know that some form of colorblindness affects up to 10% of the overall popuplation?)… you get the idea. There are many factors that go into color perception.

Printing has a ton of variables which affect color perception, too. If you print on grey or cream-colored paper, that will change the color. if you print on coated (glossy) paper, your colors tend to be brighter. Uncoated (matte) paper will absorb more ink and make the colors look a little bit duller. And when you print on vinyl, plexiglass or plastic (like for signage), the inks are totally different because they are thick and viscous, as opposed to the watery translucent inks typically used for printing on regular paper.

Long story short: the color you see on your laptop screen when you’re approving your final logo is merely an approximation (and sometimes, not a very good one) of what your logo will look like in the real world.

Okay, now that we understand that the closest you can get is “pretty close,” , here’s a brief explanation of the different kinds of color that we designers will help you specify for your logo:

Spot Color (for print)

(a.k.a. “Pantone” or “PMS” – stands for “Pantone Matching System”). This refers to a specially mixed ink that is used on things like letterhead and business cards. Typically, whenever you are printing your identity materials at a local traditional printshop, they will print with spot color.

Spot color is the most accurate kind of color for printing, because the printer specially mixes the inks according to an exact recipe as specified in the Pantone book. To pick your spot color, you need to look at a printer’s Pantone swatchbook that matches the type of paper you will be printing on– either coated (glossy) or uncoated (matte). The printer’s job is to make sure that the color they print matches the color in the Pantone book as close as possible.

Your paper color and paper brightness will have an effect on what the PMS ink looks like. So if you’re printing on a colored stock, it’s a good idea to get a sample first.

Pantone colors are typically specified like this: “PMS 109″.

Side note: did you know that the 2009 color of the year is a gold called “Mimosa”?

Process Color (for print)

(a.k.a. “CMYK” – “Cyan/Magenta/Yellow/Black”) – a simulated color of ink composed of 4 colors printed with tiny transparent dots of ink. (If you look at a magazine through a “loupe” or magnifying glass, or with the naked eye (if you’re under 35!) , you can see the tiny individual yellow, cyan, magenta and black dots that overlap to create the appearance of a specific color.

Your office inkjet or laser uses CMYK to simulate ink colors, and magazines and other publications use CMYK when they print. You will use this format to send your logo to publications.

CMYK color is not nearly as accurate as spot color at representing your logo. Cyan, Magenta and Yellow try their best to represent the colors (Black is generally for darkness rather than color), but those 3 inks can only go so far. If your logo has any bright orange in it, for example, expect it to come out more of a muted pumpkin. It’s impossible to make anything coming close to a bright neon color.

RGB Color (for web)

(stands for “Red Green Blue”) – this is for colors you see on a video monitor. These colors are made up of 3 main colors of light that mix to form other colors. You will use RGB colors whenever your logo is intended to be viewed on a monitor– a Powerpoint presentation, a website, etc.

Different monitors may display your RGB logo drastically different. When you are projecting a Powerpoint version of your logo onto a wall or screen, for example, it may look totally different than what you expect, based on the type of projector you’re using and what computer you’re viewing it with.

You just have to accept the fact that your logo is going to look different depending on the equipment you’re using. What I see on my monitor and what you see on yours aren’t the same. And you will never know what other people will see on their monitors. So you just get as close as you can.

Color conversion resources

Color Codes Matching Chart – shows an approximation of the Pantone color and its RGB equivalent

RGB to Pantone tool – displays the closest Pantone number to your RGB numbers.