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Choosing a colour profile for an unknown destination

Community Beginner ,
Dec 29, 2024 Dec 29, 2024

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Hello!

So right off the bat, I want to be clear that I understand this: the best way to choose a colour profile is ask your printer what they use. I understand why this matters. But this is not the situation I'm dealing with.

 

I'm designing a document for an unknown destination. It's an educational PDF that will made publicly available for download on the internet, and people will print it themselves. Either on home printers, or printers available in their workplaces/ public libraries. Accessibility is the biggest priority- we need to assume people aren't using nice coated paper, that they can't/wont pay to print it professionally, and that they have no control over printer settings.

So I need a decent CMYK profile that will work for ordinary, uncoated, white 8.5 X 11 US paper sheets. Something that might approximate the settings of a big lug copy-print-in-one printer in a library, and wont completely soak the paper with ink. (For reference, this is in Canada/US.)

Any suggestions?

Or in this case is it better to distribute the document in RGB? (And just be diligent about designing with colours that can be recreated in CMYK gamut?) Are consumer-level printers generally better at handling and managing RGB documents? ie. Is sending sRGB ICE61966-2.1 to a bunch of random destinations likely to cause fewer glaring colour problems than using a specific CMYK profile?

Any advice appreciated. Thank you!

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Community Expert ,
Dec 29, 2024 Dec 29, 2024

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Yes, working in RGB is the best solution, let the printer handle the color. Embed the sRGB ICE61966-2.1 profile in the file. Desktop printers do generally convert the document to RGB anyway.

You could use a 100% Grayscale Black instead of the RGB 0/0/0 Black

 

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 29, 2024 Dec 29, 2024

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Alright, thank you! And I'll definitely follow your advice for the blacks, since richer blacks will be a problem for ordinary paper. Do you have any recommendations for the best PDF standard/format to use in this case? (I need the profile, so PDF/X-1a is out. Ideally, I want to format this file so that it works well on home printers, but also wont be a total headache if someone does take it to a printer or copy shop.)

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 29, 2024 Dec 29, 2024

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Addendum, it's quite possible that a lot of people printing this file will have older printers, older computers, and/or outdated software/OSs. Backwards compatibility is important for our target demographic.

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Community Expert ,
Dec 29, 2024 Dec 29, 2024

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High Quality Print would be my choice.

Using gray for black will avoid conversion to rich black, which prevents small type becoming fuzzy.

Since your output destinations are so broad, there is no way to garantee that all colors will come out the same.

Avoid using bright RGB screen colors.

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Community Expert ,
Dec 30, 2024 Dec 30, 2024

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sRGB, done.

 

CMYK is for commercial offset print, not applicable here.

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Community Expert ,
Dec 30, 2024 Dec 30, 2024

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Because you mentioned educational PDF on the internet, that tells me sRGB is the correct color space for your purpose.  

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

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Community Expert ,
Jan 05, 2025 Jan 05, 2025

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@BlueCat55 I'll add my 2p by agreeing with what you've been told. Home printers don't like CMYK, nor do many apps they might use to view.

you asked - " in this case is it better to distribute the document in RGB? (And just be diligent about designing with colours that can be recreated in CMYK gamut?) Are consumer-level printers generally better at handling and managing RGB documents? ie. Is sending sRGB ICE61966-2.1 to a bunch of random destinations likely to cause fewer glaring colour problems than using a specific CMYK profile?"

 

yes 

@Ton Frederiks & @D Fosse  are right

 

neil barstow - adobe forum volunteer,

colourmanagement consultant & co-author of 'getting colour right'

See my free articles on colour management

Help others by clicking "Correct Answer" if the question is answered.

Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts

 

 

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