Color management - CMYK/RGB Values

Question

Hi all. I am a budding graphic designer (print and web) and after combing through forums and articles, I have come to a basic understanding of color management. I've often had either web or print work - never both for the same client. For my print work, I usually work directly in CYMK or convert from RGB to CYMK with the profile as per the printer company I work with. So far, so good.

I am now creating a brand identity guide for a non-profit I'm managing.
We need also visuals pretty quickly (print and web).
I created a logo in RGB on PS/Illustrator, converted and saved as CYMK on a separate file.

Color profiles (I work in Europe):

So, as I wanted to take note of the colors in HEX / RGB / CYMK (and Pantone if I can find a relatively close one),
I realized something was off.

I used a green color from another brand identity guide, and their guide says this:

CMYK 80/3/ 100/20 | RVB 60/ 138/46 | HEX #3C8A2E

My photoshop says this:

When I used the CMYK value from the brand identity guide, it was really far off.

I also used a blue, which I found on Pantone with the following values:

PANTONE 313 - RGB 0 146 188 | HEX 0092BC | CMYK 100 0 11 2

And on Photoshop, the values are these:

Again, when I used the CYMK values from Pantone, the color was really off from what I wanted.

The "right" colors are the HEX/RGB ones.
Working on a Macbook Pro 2015 (Retina). My monitor is not color-calibrated *yet* (working on it).

FINALLY... here are my questions:

Right now, my files are on CYMK. Was I wrong to assume that since I was on the right color profile, it would convert the colors properly?
Where did these other CYMK values come from?
Which CYMK values do I keep?
Assuming that the non-photoshop CYMK values are really what they're supposed to be on print, do I need to redo all my files in two different versions (web/print) - one with the RGB values, and one with the CYMK values?
Is it because my monitor is not color-calibrated? I've done print with this computer, and it's worked pretty well.

Whoever saves my day, a huge thank you in advance!!!

davescm · Accepted Answer

HiThe issue is that color values in RGB or CMYK only represent a particular colour when associated with a particular RGB or CMYK colour space - described by the colour profile. The same numbers in different RGB colour spaces represent different colours. There is no generic RGB and there is no generic CMYK - hence there is no generic conversion.There is no magic about Hex numbers - they are just RGB numbers where the numbers 0-255 are represented in base 16 so give 00 to FFExamples of RGB color spaces are sRGB, Adobe RGB, ProPhoto........Examples of CMYK spaces are Coated FOGRA39, Coated FOGRA27 ........etcIf you are working in CMYK then your printer should be able to advise you which profile to choose.When picking colours from the web , the RGB numbers are often represented in the sRGB workspace. As for the CMYK numbers, if the site does not specify a profile then who knows.Dave

rob day · Answer

I also used a blue, which I found on Pantone with the following values:
PANTONE 313 - RGB 0 146 188 | HEX 0092BC | CMYK 100 0 11 2
And on Photoshop, the values are these:

It's also worth noting that the Color Picker itself is color managed. If you have no documents open, the appearance and numbers in the picker respond to your current Color Settings setup. If there are documents open the foreground doc's assigned profile affects the picker.

In your capture you are picking a Hex value, which is simply a different RGB notation. The Color Settings' RGB profile will affect the appearance of the specified RGB color, along with the expected CMYK numbers if the RGB color were to be converted into the Color Settings' CMYK space.

So the RGB/Hex values don't change when you choose different RGB profiles, but the color's appearance does. Here's your 0092bc hex value with ProPhoto as the RGB Working space on the left and sRGB on the right:

Any change to either the RGB or CMYK working spaces affects the expected CMYK values, as well as the Color intent and Black Point Compensation settings. The variables that affect the conversion into CMYK are enormous and that's why the web tables are not reliable.

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