COLOUR GUIDE

Colour Guide

Ever printed something out and noticed the colours are a little off from the screen? Don't worry, you aren't going crazy! This happens, and it is for a few different reasons.  

1. RGB vs CMYK (this is explained more below)

Your computer screen works in RGB (Red, Green, Blue) and not CMYK. A computer screen that isn’t set up to view CMYK will show you different colours to the ones that may be printed. This is because the RGB spectrum is broader than CMYK, so colours can be created in this palette that won’t be available in CMYK.

2. The way your screen is calibrated

Each screen is calibrated in its own way, and thus if you look at colour on two different screens the colour will appear differently. You can test this by looking at your label file on both your phone, and computer and see the big difference. 

3. Different Vinyls/Cardstock

Different materials will absorb colour differently. If printing your same file on 3 different vinyls, they will all appear VERY differently. This is because of the way the ink is absorbed, the chemical properties the material is made up of, and also the base colour of the vinyl. 

So what is CMYK, RGB and Pantone?!

CMYK 

CMYK refers to the four different colours used in regular printing: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. These are the four inks we use in our printers. 

[ RGB ]

RGB colour is the combination of three colours: Reg, Green and Blue. RGB is designed for screens like your computer or phone. On a screen, there is a much wider range of colours that are achieved (think neons etc) which just aren't able to be printed with cmyk inks.  

[ Pantone ]

Pantone is also knows as PMS : Pantone Matching System, which is used in many industries. Pantone uniquely created standard colour matching system to unify the colours in different manufacturing sectors. Pantone is the universal way of matching colours. Designers and printers will have a Pantone Swatch book, which is a physical copy of each colour. We use this, to compare the pantone colour, to your label as it prints. If your label isn't printing as per the pantone swatch, we fix it then and there! However, if not provided a pantone colour, we don't have a way of referencing the colour you are hoping to achieve.