Why Do I Need to Know CMYK vs RBG? At its base, CMYK is the standard for print materials – while RBG is more readily accepted for digital designs and websites. Another fundamental difference is that RGB is considered an additive color model, while CMYK is considered a subtractive model of color. Here’s the skinny on what you need to know.
In the graphic design world, one thing that we really wish more consumers understood was the difference between RBG (red, green, blue) and CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). Doing anything in color, especially when bridging the gap between the digital world and the print world, requires graphic designers to have an in-depth understanding of the differences between these two standard color models.
What’s the Difference between the RGB vs CMYK Model?
At the core, the difference between these two models is:
- CMYK combines all colors together in order to create black and uses white as the natural color of the print background.
- RGB creates the color “white” by combining all of the primary colors together while black is simply the absence of light.
This means that RGB is much better suited for anything that transmits light or uses digital pixels to create an image. Picture a computer screen, TV, or digital billboard. This makes the most sense for the RGB model because of the fact that black is truly just the absence of light, as well as the fact that when a pixel is active on a screen it’s usually emitting colors such as red, green, or blue light.
If you were to put a computer screen under a microscope, you would find that each pixel on a screen utilizes a red, green, and blue light in order to bring images up on the screen. When you perceive white on the screen, it’s actually a blend of those three colors together to create white light. When the pixel is inactive, it creates a black image. The main principle of the “additive” color model you’re capable of producing the color black simply by turning off the pixel. On the flip side, the more colors you’re capable of mixing together – the cleaner and brighter the “white” you produce will be.
Why is CMYK so good for printing?
Unlike RGB, CMYK is a subtractive color model – which means that CMYK takes colors away from natural white light and turns them into pigments to utilize when printing. Printers, like the ones we have here at Pinnacle Press, are then able to get those pigments to show up on paper in borderline microscopic cyan, magenta, yellow, and black dots.
The more accurate the printer, the closer together those dots can be – and the more true the colors will be. As the CMYK continues to ADD colors into the mix, the closer that section of the page gets to be black. If you completely subtract the pigments, you end up with the natural color of the paper or background. This is for printing because it bases the colors on the idea that the background being printed on is a white blank slate – unlike the RGB model which assumes that the color black will appear when the pixel is turned off.
The Conclusion
So at the end of the day, RGB is definitely your best bet for designing in digital format. Think of designing for mobile optimized websites or television; however, if you decide that you need to take that design to print, you have to convert your designs to CMYK before sending them to the printer in order for them to look correct on the white background.