Why is CMYK color mode preferred in printing & packaging?

August 14, 2022 by
Why is CMYK color mode preferred in printing & packaging?
Ketsana Limited, Sophie Guo
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Printing in CMYK is commonly referred to as the color mode of printing. The primary distinction between RGB and CMYK is that RGB is an illuminated color mode, but CMYK is not. Because RGB is a lighted color mode, the content displayed on the screen may be seen even in a dark room.

What is CMYK?

Since CMYK is a color mode that works by reflection, one would wonder how it is possible to make out the words printed in a newspaper. Only when there is an additional light source can CMYK be seen by the human eye. Therefore, it is not possible to read in a room that is completely black.

As long as the image can be seen in print, it is a depiction of the CMYK color mode. CMYK mode is used for printing journals, magazines, newspapers, and luxury packaging products, including rigid boxes, gift boxes, etc.

The abbreviation CMY stands for the first three letters of the names of the inks used in printing: cyan (cyan), magenta (magenta), and yellow (yellow). And K is utilized since it is the last letter of black, and this is done so that it does not get confused with the color blue.

In theory, just CMY three inks are necessary, and the combination of CMY should produce black when added together. However, for the time being, high-purity ink is not available, and when CMY is combined, a dark red color is produced as a result of the reaction. As a result, the addition of specialized black ink for blending purposes is required in order to achieve a black output.

 

What is RBG?

RGB is often called "color light's three primary colors," R (red), G (green), and B (blue). The RGB color order of 0-255 describes the order of the three colors. Because RGB is light, adding more colors makes them brighter, so this technique is also called the "add color method." When all three RGB values are 0, it will look black, and when all three RGB values are 255, it will look white. When the value of all three RGB colors is 255, it will also look black.

 According to the chart that just showed how B, G, and R relate to each other, cyan is made by adding B and G, magenta is made by adding B and R, and yellow is made by adding G and R. These colors go perfectly with the CMYK colors.

 

What happens when you print in RGB mode


If the pictures are made in RGB mode and then printed, the difference in colors will depend a lot on whether or not the colors you used in your design file are outside of the CMYK color gamut. This is because the total number of colors that RGB color mode can show is much larger than the total number of colors that CMYK color mode can show. If a large number of colors are used that are not in the CMYK gamut, the effect will be very, very noticeable.

If you change the photo's color mode in Photoshop to CMYK, you can see the difference between the two. It's easy to make this change. If there is a clear change, it means that you are using a lot of colors that are not in the CMYK color gamut. If there isn't much change, that means there isn't a problem.

The effect is big because RGB colors look great on the screen but don't print at all. Putting magenta (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) ink on the paper and printing them over each other is how a printing machine makes color pictures.

 

Choose the CMYK color mode for your artwork


In their real work, a lot of new designers use RGB mode cartography. When customers look at the colors on the screen, they think that the colors on the paper won't be too different from the colors on the screen. But the colors on the paper are very different from the colors on the computer screen, which makes customers very unhappy.

So, at KETSANA PACK, we ask customers to send the artwork file in CMYK mode at the start of the process of making a gift box so that the color of the picture on the computer is closer to the color that will be printed. This will save both time and trouble. We also carefully check the files that our clients send us and let them know if the colors are not set correctly.

If you have more questions about the color mode, please don't hesitate to contact us. We will be more than happy to talk to you.

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Why is CMYK color mode preferred in printing & packaging?
Ketsana Limited, Sophie Guo August 14, 2022
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