Manipulating color is one of the hardest things to master in brochure printing. To have perfect control of colors there are many factors to consider. In fact, there are just too many factors to consider for one discussion to cover. However, before you delve into a deeper discussion about colors, do yourself a favor and browse through these basic concepts first.
Use Proper Color Settings for Your Brochure
There are two types of color schemes – the CMYK and the RGB color schemes. The CYMK color schemes use four colors - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black, which when combined together can create any other color. This differs to the RGB color scheme which uses only three colors – Red, Green and Blue. They also differ on the way they use light. The RGB color scheme produces light to illuminate the colors and make them brighter. The CMYK color space on the other hand absorbs light in order to make color vibrant. That is why in the CMYK color space, paper stock is very important. The smoother and brighter the surface of your paper stock usually means that you will have high quality color on your prints.
With that said, whenever you decide to embark on any brochure printing service, you must always use the CMYK color scheme in your designs. Printers print in the CMYK color space while RGB color spaces are almost exclusively used in monitors. When you print RGB files in CMYK printers color accuracy is compromised.
You can avoid his problem by doing one of two things: 1.) Create your design under the CMYK color space or 2.) convert your RGB files to CMYK.
However…
100 percent color accuracy is very difficult to achieve. This is because even if you convert your RGB files to CMYK, your computer monitor still display colors in RGB format. The colors appear exceptionally brilliant, because they are being electronically illuminated. Do not be surprised if your prints come out duller than what you see on the monitor. The best way to assure the color accuracy of your prints is to simply ask for an actual proof from your printer. By seeing the actual printed material, you can see how your prints will be done.
Special Note for Using Black in Your Brochure
When choosing the color Black for regular text, be sure to use only 100% black, not a mixture of cyan, magenta, yellow AND black. The CMYK value that you should use is:
C=0% M=0% Y=0% K=100%
By doing this, you ensure that you will not saturate the paper with the ink that your use. When you use four inks to produce black, fine details of smaller font sizes will not be visible and will appear to be smudged.
On the other hand, large prints using only 100% black will be look grayish. When printing in large format, you should always use rich black. Rich black can be achieved through the use of C=40% M=40% Y=40% K=100%. This will ensure that your black will stay black no matter how big your prints are.
Pantone Colors
Pantone colors are another nice option to have when you are printing your materials. pantone colors are also called spot colors since these colors can be produced in a single run. These are special inks that need to be pre-ordered first. They are usually used when you need to reproduce colors accurately like in company logos.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Business cards
By: Candy | 24-10-2008
How do I type out and print my own business cards, not graphics, just my name, hobby and phone number?
What Digital Printer should Ibuy?
By: Paddy Cribben | 21-10-2008
1 stoney*i am looking at buying a digital printer and wonder for all round performance (quality of print being important) would
People reccomend konica minolta, canon or xerox?
Why web pages cropped?
By: Skinnyman | 16-10-2008
How do you print web pages without part of the text being cropped so that you cannot read the whole sentence?
Stop Adobe Acrobat from opening
By: Linda Salant | 11-10-2008
how do I keep acrobat from opening every time I print to PDF? I don't want to display the file after I print it... I just want to print it.
Any one hear of a company "D.I.P. printing ...
By: mine | 02-10-2008
any one hear of a company "D.I.P. printing", queens, NY not sure if its in Queens going or gone out of business??
How do you change the size of the text and map ...
By: Pam | 19-09-2008
how do you change the size of the text and map when using Mapquest? Just lately it prints out very small, but none of the other things I print do that.
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