CMYK – four colors that matter

CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) is a color model that is used in color printing. The reason why all printed materials should use this color model is that the main principle of printing is to lay down a color then wait (to dry it), then lay another one and wait (to dry it) and so on. This method helps to create colorful printed materials, in spite of the fact that the principle was invented long ago it did not change too much.

CMYK is called a subtract color model. In other words it starts with the combination of all colors (Cyan, magenta, yellow and black) and when all colors subtracted we get the white color. It is necessary to understand that printed material deals with reflection and absorption of light. That is how we see colors.

RGB (red, green, blue) is an additive color model. It is used when we need to deal with digital images. This color model has a larger gamut than CMYK that is why it can display more colors.

When it comes to choosing what color model you need to use, you need to answer the question “What is your output”. If you are going to print it, then CMYK is right for you, if it stills a digital image then RGB is perfect. You can also print something using RGB, but the colors will look differently.