Emma Davis Print Production Specialist at 4OVER4.COM
Emma is our prepress and print production voice, built from the knowledge of our production team, with over 20 years in printing.
Question
Design Color Settings
Answer
Most commercial printing is done in CMYK color mode, also known as the four-color process, where cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks combine to reproduce your full-color artwork. Setting your color mode correctly before you design keeps on-screen color close to the printed result.
- Design in CMYK: it is the color space the press actually uses, so it previews print color more accurately than RGB.
- RGB gets converted: files sent in RGB are converted to CMYK automatically, which can shift bright colors.
- Pantone maps to CMYK: spot colors are matched to their nearest process equivalents, so they land close but not exact.
- Build neutral blacks from K: use 100% K for text and add a rich black build only for large solid areas.
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