Author Kurt Schauer
Printing the right colors is a science in itself. Too often, what ends up on the flyer looks completely different to what was imagined on the monitor. Color experts have solutions, but they also have their own language to explain them. In order to find the right tone for your own printed matter, 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 refers to the colors that can be seen on a certain medium. RGB, for example, refers to the color space that is relevant for a computer monitor. This is why it usually triggers a mischievous grin on the other side when you ask in a printing company whether you can print something in RGB. The name comes from the three colors that are mixed to create the other colors: red, green and blue.
Printing companies, on the other hand, use the CMYK color space. They add a fourth color and mix the other tones from cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The English words are used for the initial letters. The "K" stands for "key color" but refers to black. This process has the advantage that numerous special colors can also be represented in this way and do not have to be specially created. But more on that later.
If you want to ensure that your printed matter looks the same as it does on the screen, you need to determine the reference value of the CMYK color space from the one used in the RGB color space. This process is called color management and is the supreme discipline of color experts. Ultimately, it is not the reference value that needs to be calculated: it must then be implemented as precisely as possible by the hardware.
For this reason, so-called “proofs” are created. These are test prints that should be approved by the respective client under normal light. After all, this is the only way to ensure that the print actually has the color tones that the client wants.
Special colors: Sometimes the specialist has to help
Special colors are those colors that are not part of the classic color palette. Gold and silver are examples of this. As mentioned, many special 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 special 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 are specialists who jointly sell the HKS color palette.
Any questions?
Anett Auerswald
Agency Management/Director of Arts
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