Most Reliable Print Colors

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
December 14, 2023
3 replies
1323 views

I recently had someone (not a designer) tell me that CMYK colors are unreliable for print and has only provided me with HEX codes for his brand colors....I have no idea where he got his info and can't find anything to support that claim, but I wanted to ask the experts here first before I respond to him, because maybe there's something I don't know. In my experience–which may be out of date at this point–I would choose a Pantone color for a brand first, then find the CMYK equivalent and then RGB and HEX options. Is this wrong? What's the current best practice for producing the most accurate branding colors in print?

Color properties

This topic has been closed for replies.

jane-e

Community Expert

@cmurry

HEX is just another way to write RGB. Accuracy depends on the color space.

https://www.adobe.com/express/learn/blog/understanding-html-color-codes

"there is no informational difference between a hex code and an RGB color code, they are simply different expressions."

Read this entire thread for more information:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/hex-codes-in-photoshop/td-p/9040860

Jane

Bob_Hallam

Legend

Hex is only for sRGB it was created for web pages before RGB values could be used. The web's color space is sRGB.

Anything other that a CIELab-based color will not be accurate across platforms and printing.

ICC programmer and developer, Photographer, artist and color management expert, Print standards and process expert.

C

Cher5C32

Participant

CMYK is not reliable. Color shift can happen among different printers, on different days, even the same printer within the same run. It has too many variables.
The only reliable and consistent print color will be PMS colors run on an Offset Printer. This is not always an option depending on turn around time and budget restrictions.

HEX colors are not used for printing... the printer will convert the color to its CMYK equivilent.
Best practice will be to always build the logo in PMS colors and then tweak the CMYK output if printing digital.

Bob_Hallam

Legend

That is correct. CMYK color is dependent on the printing process. You can see this when you look at a Pantone book with CMYK color matches on it for both coated and uncoated papers. They are vry obviously different with different CMYK values for the same PMS color.

HEX values are based on sRGB for the web. This is a small color space that is smaller than the ISO coated paper standards for Sheetfed printing, and much smaller than what some digital presses can provide. I recommend Pantone colors for spot color areas. This way the spot color is defined as CIELab color and will be converted properly for the printing process in the rip or using Indesign's export function in the Ink manager use Spot to process.

ICC programmer and developer, Photographer, artist and color management expert, Print standards and process expert.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded