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Why Did The Colors Change In My Art?

  • 1 mth ago

In the proofing process our designers take the art you've provided and prepare it for the products you've selected. This involves checking the colors of the art will work for the decoration methods used with each product. Commonly, this requires changing RGB colors into either CMYK or PANTONE colors.

Color Types

RGB Colors

RGB colors are used to display art on screens. Think about the one you're reading this on, whether that's a computer, phone, tablet, or other device. These are made with red, green, and blue pixels.


CMYK Colors

CMYK colors are typically seen on printed materials. A few examples include business cards, banners, and booklets. These are made with cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink.


PANTONE Colors

PANTONE colors are typically seen on products decorated with screen printing. A few examples include shirts, cups, tumblers, and pens. These are custom mixed inks matched to industry standardized colors.


Why did the colors change in my art?

When we take a color and switch it to a different type some variation has to be expected. Since each type is created differently, the colors they can each produce can't entirely match.

This is an example of the color spectrums each type can produce. Notice how CMYK, RGB, and PANTONE don't fully overlap. How this translates to your art is that if it's originally designed in RGBs, and they fall on the further edges of what can be produced, they can't be directly translated into CMYK or PANTONE.

To visualize this, above are the standard full-strength colors for Red, Green, and Blue used for art on your screen. When converted direct to CMYKs in standard industry software the colors become much more muted, giving a very different appearance.

If your art is primary created for screens, and makes use of bright RGB colors, it's very likely that us preparing it for print will cause a lot of the colors to appear more muted.


What can I do to prevent this?

If this applies to your primary brand (colors, logos, etc.), look to have the original designer establish standard CMYK and PANTONE color to use. This will better ensure reliable results across all of the different mediums your brand will be produced on.

If this is for an individual design, have the original designer take the design and change all of the colors applied to CMYK or PANTONE colors for the most reliable results.


What if my designer can't do this?

Our designers are capable of selecting the best CMYK or PANTONE colors based on the art.

Keep in mind, this will be a best match and exact match will not be guaranteed. Determining the best color to use in place of an RGB will have varying results depending on whether the color falls within the respective color spectrum.


Other Questions

What PANTONE colors can you use?

We work primarily from Coated PMS colors (PMS ### C). These are the best representation of the final appearance of the color printed on most product materials.


Why can't you use my PANTONE colors?

PANTONE colors from other books have different purposes

  • Uncoated PMS colors (PMS ### U) represent the final appearance of color printed on materials which absorb ink and have a matte finish, less common on products
  • Color Bridge PMS colors (PMS ### CP) are printed using a CMYK process, not specially mixed inks, making them incompatible with screen printing
  • PMS colors with 6 numbers (PMS ##-####) are used for fabrics
  • PMS colors with 6 numbers + letters TPG or TPM are used for pigments and coatings

If your only available PANTONE color is from one of the other books we can attempt to determine a best match and exact match will not be guaranteed.


Can you print metallic and neon colors?

Depending on the product, the decorator we're working with may be capable of printing metallic or neon colors. We typically want to have a fallback if your brand or art PANTONE colors fall under their Neon, Metallic, or Pastel color sets due to this limitation.

  • 1 mth agoLast active
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