Colour Management

Making sure your print files are colour accurate

Colours and why they're important

We will aim to provide a printed proof for your work before we commit to print. In some cases this is not always possible, and a PDF proof will be sent via email. This has its limitations due to colour accuracy of the device the PDF is viewed on.

This simple guide will help you understand the advantages and limitations of colour printing and give you the best results possible.

Your monitor, smart phone or tablet uses a screen made up from tiny pixels emitting Red, Green and Blue light (RGB).

This colour space has a very vibrant and luminous appearance with noticeably brighter colours.

Printers operate in a different colour space known as CMYK.

The CMYK colour model (process colour, four colour) is a subtractive color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. CMYK refers to the four inks used in some colour printing: cyan, yellow, magenta, and key black.

This image has been captured in an RGB colour space.

This image has been converted to a CMYK profile and certain colours may appear less vibrant. Green and orange suffer in this case. You should adjust your image in Photoshop to compensate.

Getting more accurate colours

This simple diagram explains the areas of colour that can be resolved in the various colour spaces, ranging from the what the eye can see, to the number of colours CMYK can reproduce.

Another important factor to consider is how the colours are displayed on the device you are designing on.

Many of our customer are unaware of this and submit files with dark imagery or misjudged colours. A few minutes correctly calibrating your screen will ensure your print file matches your final product more accurately.

Please call us if you need more assistance.