LOGOS: RGB OR CMYK COLORS?

On many occasions, customers ask us to use a particular color shown on a web page. Or even better, select some colors shown on our RGB color palette. It's a very quick and useful way to lead the designers towards the shades they're after.

Is choosing a color that simple?. No, it isn't. Video monitors use colors generated under the RGB model (RGB stands for Red, Green and Blue). Each single pixel on screen is the result of the mixture of those primary colors. If you logo were intended for web or electronic use, the designer would simply pick the RGB code of the selected color. But a logo is intended for many applications, including print use. Printing industry use a different color model, called CMYK (CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black).

Unless the designer is required to create a logo for web only, he needs to convert all the colors to the CMYK palette. RGB colors are converted to CMYK by the graphic design software he is using. Now, think about this: Have you ever seen a printed brochure shining like a video monitor? Of course not! screen colors are a lot brighter than printed ones. Or better said, the RGB palette includes shades that can't be reproduced by a printer. When a RGB color is converted to CYMK mode the difference between them is more or less noticeable. People finds hard to get used to the idea that a color that's in front of their eyes can't be on their business cards.

Some customers of ours buy a web template, and then come to us to have their logo created. It's natural that they want their logo to match their template's colors. And guess what: obviously, the template is RGB!. As a result, the designers need to convert it to CMYK. Although the logo design process could be fulfilled, and the final logo can be delivered in CMYK and RGB format, the customer will have to know that his stationery pieces may look a bit different.

We all tend to think that the well-known brands always look the same. "the" Ford's blue, "the" Virgin's orange, "the" IBM's blue and so on. Believe it or not, there are very noticeable differences. They don't occur at random. When an advertising agency creates an corporate identity system for a Fortune 500 company, it actually creates several logos, depending on the intended use.