Author: Kurt Schauer
Printing the right colors is a science all its own. Too often, what arrives on the flyer looks completely different from what was conceived on the monitor. Color experts do have solutions, but they also have a language all their own to explain them. To find the right tone for your own printed materials, you first have to learn the associated vocabulary. What do terms like RGB, color management, color space or CMYK mean? And what exactly are spot colors?
The most important terms simply explained
A color space describes the colors that are visible on a particular medium. RGB, for example, refers to the color space that is relevant for a computer monitor. It therefore usually triggers a wry grin on the other side when you ask print shops whether something can be printed in RGB. The name comes from the three colors that are mixed to create the other shades: red, green, and blue.
Print shops, on the other hand, use the CMYK color space. They add a fourth color and mix the other shades from cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The English terms are used for the initial letters. The „K“ stands for „Key Color,“ but refers to black. This method has the advantage that numerous special colors can also be represented in this way and do not need to be produced separately. But more on that later.
Anyone who wants to ensure that their printed materials look visually the same as they do on screen must determine the reference value of the CMYK color space from the one that was used in RGB. This process is called color management and is the supreme discipline of color experts. After all, the reference value does not have to be calculated: it must subsequently also be implemented by the hardware as precisely as possible.
For this reason, so-called „proofs“ are created. These are test prints that should be approved by the respective client under normal lighting. After all, this is the only way to ensure that the print has actually achieved the color tones that the client desires.
Spot Colors: Sometimes the Specialist Has to Help
Spot colors are those colors that do not belong to the classic color palette. Gold and silver are examples of this. As mentioned, many spot colors can be mixed using the CMYK color space, but this is not always possible. Problems can arise, especially with complicated intermediate tones. In such a case, specialists must help. For example, there is the HKS color palette, which contains 88 spot colors and was developed in Germany. The letters stand for the names of the associated companies Hostmann-Steinberg, Kast + Ehinger, and H. Schmincke & Co. – they jointly distribute the HKS color palette as specialists.
Do you have questions?
Anett Auerswald
Agency Director/Director of Arts
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