CMYK vs. RGB

RGB stands for red, green and blue. Phones, computers and TVs mix those three colors of light, so they can show very bright colors. Each RGB value goes from 0 to 255, and a HEX code, such as #615E8D, is the same RGB color written in six characters for websites.

CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow and key, the black ink. Most full-color printing builds every color from dots of those four inks, and each value is a percentage of ink.

Screens can show colors that ink can't reproduce. A screen gives off its own light, while ink on paper only reflects part of the light around it, so a very bright screen color, like an electric blue or a neon green, often comes out flatter in print.

That's why an automatic conversion from RGB to CMYK can disappoint. It's better to choose each brand color's CMYK value on purpose, look at it printed and record both values in your color palette.

The surface matters too: the same CMYK values look different on glossy paper, matte paper, fabric or vinyl, so always check a proof on the real material.

• Website, email and social media: RGB, with HEX codes.
• Business cards, flyers and brochures: CMYK, in a print-ready PDF.
• Shirts and color-critical pieces: often a Pantone (PMS) color, with a CMYK value for full-color jobs like printed banners and signs.
• Video and presentations: RGB.

Many organizations in California make the same flyer in English and in Spanish, for print and for social media. Record each brand color once in RGB, HEX and CMYK, and every version, in either language, starts from the same values.

Every logo version from our Essential Corporate Identity package comes in 6 final files: PNG in RGB (white, black and color) for screens, and PDF in CMYK vector format (white, black and color) for print at any size. Our guide to brand colors that print correctly shows what to check before you order.