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Which color profile to use for digital media. (Adobe x sRGB)

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
September 1, 2022
5 replies
23113 views

Hi, folks!

We're facing a color profile issue in the company I work at.
Currently we have around 20 designers which create graphics for many channels as social media, e-mail marketing and our mobile application. We almost never create anything for printing as 99.99% of our work is for digital media.

Naturally, we work on the RGB color space on a daily basis but when it comes to color profiles, the whole thing get a bit tricky. As you may have imagined, with lots of different team members, working with different devices and channels, we get lots of inconsistencies too. Sometimes our color palette looks a bit dull or even oversaturated in some users screens and most of it happens because we don't have a consistent color management pipeline.

About 2 years ago the team has elected Adobe RGB as our main color profile for creating graphics. We didn't do much of a researching job to get to this conclusion. People just filled two photoshop canvases with ou brand color (#ff7a00), one configured with sRGB color profile and the other with Adobe RGB and people felt that it "looked better" with the latter. It kinda works as our graphics looks consistent across our designers screens (we work mostly with apple retina displays) but when it comes to other kinds of screens we face some distortions. The main inconsistency shows up at our mobile app where our brand color is displayed in two ways: with static assets as banners but also with programmatically rendered images via SVGs, CSS and so on.

The main question is. Which is the definitive color profile for us to use? I've been looking to this issue for some weeks and I'm fairly convinced that we should switch to sRGB, (For example, by using Save for Web we don't face this issue at all) as it looks more consistent on non-retina displays and while interacting with programmatically rendered colors. Otherwise, our team fears that our brand color may show up a little bit dull.

Thank you in advance!

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer TheDigitalDog

@arthurLintz wrote:

The main question is. Which is the definitive color profile for us to use?

Start here:

https://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/pdfs/phscs2ip_colspace.pdf

There are no perfect RGB working spaces
In a perfect world, there would be only one RGB working space that was ideal for all uses. An
ideal RGB working space would be one that could fully contain all the colors from your capture
device or the gamut of the scene, and the gamut of all your output devices.

You cannot control how others see your images on the web (or elsewhere). Yes, saving as sRGB is a good start but you have no control over others who may or may not be using color managed applications (without, sRGB is meaningless), if or how they calibrate their displays, etc. The best you can do is control your images on your end using color management.
See:

sRGB urban legend & myths Part 2
In this 17 minute video, I'll discuss some more sRGB misinformation and cover:
When to use sRGB and what to expect on the web and mobile devices
How sRGB doesn't insure a visual match without color management, how to check
The downsides of an all sRGB workflow sRGB's color gamut vs. "professional" output devices
The future of sRGB and wide gamut display technology
Photo print labs that demand sRGB for output
High resolution: http://digitaldog.net/files/sRGBMythsPart2.mp4
Low resolution on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyvVUL1gWV

NB, colourmanagement

Community Expert

There isn't a definitive color profile - as I hope you have learned from the replies of others here.

you mention

"graphics for many channels as social media, e-mail marketing and our mobile application"

This doesn’t seem to include press work (printed) so, I'd say sRGB would be a better default for you.

Adobe RGB files do risk being displayed incorrectly.

As DigitalDog wrote:

“All non-color managed applications don't understand Adobe RGB or sRGB. Many color managed applications assume sRGB for untagged data”

- - - untagged data which is always bad

SO sRGB is safer. Bob has given you some pointers on working when preparing files for press, indeed some colours are missing from the sRGB gamut which could have been printed. How often you'd see that happen I don't know, depends on your work

I hope this helps neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer

google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

@arthurLintz wrote:

Hi, folks!

About 2 years ago the team has elected Adobe RGB as our main color profile for creating graphics. We didn't do much of a researching job to get to this conclusion. People just filled two photoshop canvases with ou brand color (#ff7a00), one configured with sRGB color profile and the other with Adobe RGB and people felt that it "looked better" with the latter.

Fun fact: I created a document in Photoshop using that color (ff7a00) and plotted its gamut 3D next to sRGB. This doesn't bode well for sRGB:

And of course, your Apple Retina displays are wide gamut (P-3), closer to Adobe RGB (1998) color gamut than sRGB.

What others outside your shop see, without such wide gamut displays, are again, nothing you can control.

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

Bob_Hallam

Legend

Back in the day when the internet was in its infancy, IEC standards group got together with the ICC and worked to find the "Least common denominator" of color gamuts for users' displays. At the time CRT was the standard for display technology and LCD and others were not available. So an adjusted version was created that is supposed to be used in a "dim environment" because the gamut was small and the colors of this small gamut would appear more saturated in lights that weren't so bright. It's certainly time for an update, but the reality of any change to the internet color standard would require color-managed browsers to make it all work.

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

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

There are plenty of color managed web browsers and in fact, it's the norm (rule not exception).

Not that old “back in the day” web browsers or CRTs has anything to do with the original question. Or the poor color gamut of sRGB and the OPs brand color that falls outside the color gamut some keep recommending for millions of wide gamut devices that can display it.

The paragraph from the old Adobe white paper provided sums this up in the first reply here.

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

Bob_Hallam

Legend

It depends on where your images are used, Arthur. If they are only for presentations and web graphics, then sRGB is a good choice. But if you include high-end print work like Sheetfed Offset printing, I recommend Adobe 98 RGB as the working space because sRGB is too small. A good workflow if Sheetfed Offset is in your workflow is to set the standard color settings like the image below. When going to web files convert and export them with sRGB to keep the color accurate on the web. Keep the files in Adobe RGB if going to an Offset print process, unless the printing company can not do it on the fly. If the job goes on a digital press, the RGB portions will be converted to that press-specific color space. Make sure that all image files include embedded profiles and color settings are consistent across all personnel in your organization. We have multiple color management systems and presses where I work and they all support any embedded profile without issue.

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

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

I would go for sRGB. Many non-Adobe applications don't support Adobe RGB and expect sRGB.

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

@Ton Frederiks wrote:

I would go for sRGB. Many non-Adobe applications don't support Adobe RGB and expect sRGB.

What color managed application doesn't understand Adobe RGB (1998)?

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

Of course, color managed applications support Adobe RGB.

But applications like Adobe Illustrator do not embed a profile when documents are exported to PNG.

Other apps have to guess and guess wrong.

TheDigitalDogCorrect answer

Inspiring

@arthurLintz wrote:

The main question is. Which is the definitive color profile for us to use?

Start here:

https://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/pdfs/phscs2ip_colspace.pdf

There are no perfect RGB working spaces
In a perfect world, there would be only one RGB working space that was ideal for all uses. An
ideal RGB working space would be one that could fully contain all the colors from your capture
device or the gamut of the scene, and the gamut of all your output devices.

You cannot control how others see your images on the web (or elsewhere). Yes, saving as sRGB is a good start but you have no control over others who may or may not be using color managed applications (without, sRGB is meaningless), if or how they calibrate their displays, etc. The best you can do is control your images on your end using color management.
See:

sRGB urban legend & myths Part 2
In this 17 minute video, I'll discuss some more sRGB misinformation and cover:
When to use sRGB and what to expect on the web and mobile devices
How sRGB doesn't insure a visual match without color management, how to check
The downsides of an all sRGB workflow sRGB's color gamut vs. "professional" output devices
The future of sRGB and wide gamut display technology
Photo print labs that demand sRGB for output
High resolution: http://digitaldog.net/files/sRGBMythsPart2.mp4
Low resolution on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyvVUL1gWV

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

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