You pick a colour on your screen. It looks bright, bold and exactly how you want it.
Then your printed merch arrives and suddenly that electric blue looks a little less electric. Your bright green has gone a bit darker. That pink that looked incredibly vibrant on your laptop is now... considerably less exciting.
So, what happened?
It doesn't often mean something went wrong during printing. The difference often comes down to how colour is created on a screen versus how it is reproduced in print.
This is where RGB and CMYK come in.
If you're a small business owner, clothing brand, event organiser or anyone regularly getting artwork printed, understanding the difference can save you from some very confusing colour surprises.
RGB vs CMYK: What's the difference?
Let's keep this simple.
RGB stands for Red, Green and Blue.
It's the colour system used by screens, including your phone, computer, tablet and TV. These devices create colour using light, combining different amounts of red, green and blue to produce the colours you see.
Because RGB uses light, it can create some incredibly bright and vibrant colours.
CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key, which is black.
It's a colour system used in many print applications. Instead of creating colour with light, printers use combinations of inks or pigments to produce the finished colour.
And this is the important part:
A screen can display colours that physical ink or pigment can't reproduce exactly.
So when a colour moves from your screen to something physical, some colours may need to change.
That's why your artwork can look one way on your computer and slightly different once it's printed.
Why do RGB colours look brighter?
The easiest way to understand the difference is to think about light versus ink.
Your screen is actively producing light. The brighter and more saturated an RGB colour is, the more intense it can appear.
Printed colour works differently. You're looking at ink or pigment sitting on a physical surface, rather than light being produced directly by the colour itself.
That gives print a different range of colours to work with.
It doesn't mean printed colours are automatically dull or boring. Far from it. It just means not every colour you can create on a screen has an exact equivalent in physical print.
This is particularly noticeable with very bright or highly saturated colours, including some:
- Greens
- Blues
- Pinks
- Purples
- Oranges
- Fluorescent-looking colours
So if you've picked an outrageously bright neon green in Illustrator and are expecting the exact same thing on a T-shirt, there may be a small reality check waiting for you.
Print simply has a different range of colours to work with, so some of those super-bright screen colours won't translate exactly as they appear on your monitor.
What happens when an RGB file is printed?
If your artwork is created in RGB, the colour information still needs to be interpreted by the printing process.
Depending on the printing method, those colours may need to be converted or otherwise translated into something the process can reproduce.
When an RGB colour sits outside the printable colour range, it has to be brought into a range that can actually be produced.
As a result, the final colour may appear:
- Less vibrant
- Darker
- Less saturated
- Slightly warmer or cooler
- Different from what you saw on screen
The bigger the difference between the original RGB colour and what can actually be reproduced, the more noticeable the change can be.
This is why preparing your artwork with the intended printing method in mind is important.
So should I use RGB or CMYK for print?
If you're creating artwork specifically for print, CMYK is a better starting point.
Working in CMYK gives you a more realistic idea of how colours are likely to reproduce before your artwork reaches the printer.
But there's an important catch.
CMYK isn't a universal "make this print perfectly" button.
Different printing methods use colour differently. Screen printing, DTF and other printing processes don't all work from a CMYK file in exactly the same way.
The printing method, garment colour, ink and artwork itself can all affect the final result.
So while understanding RGB and CMYK is useful, simply converting every file to CMYK isn't going to solve every possible colour issue.
The best approach is to understand what you're printing, how you're printing it and what colour you're trying to achieve.
What about HEX colours?
This is particularly relevant if you're working with an established brand identity.
You might have a brand colour written as something like:
#FF5733
That's a HEX colour.
HEX codes are primarily used for digital applications, such as websites, social media and other screen-based design. They're essentially telling a screen which colour to display.
So if your brand guidelines give you a HEX colour, you can't necessarily hand that code to a printer and expect the exact same colour to appear on a garment.
For a brand that needs to work across digital and physical applications, it's useful to have your colours defined in the appropriate formats for each use.
Depending on the brand and application, this could include:
- HEX for digital applications
- RGB for screen-based design
- CMYK for relevant print applications
- Pantone references where a specific colour match is particularly important
The goal isn't to have four completely different versions of your brand colour floating around.
It's to make sure your brand colour has been translated appropriately for the environment it's being used in.
Your screen can also be part of the problem
There's another factor that can make colour even more confusing: your screen isn't necessarily showing you an objective version of the colour.
Screen brightness, display settings and calibration can all affect what you're seeing.
Two people can look at the same artwork on different screens and see slightly different versions of the same colour.
That means even if your artwork is set up correctly, looking at it on your laptop isn't the same as looking at the finished printed product.
This is one reason physical colour references can be useful when colour accuracy really matters.
If you're ordering a large run of branded uniforms and your exact brand colour is important, don't rely entirely on what that colour looks like on your screen.
Why does this matter for merch and uniforms?
For most businesses ordering branded merch, you don't need to become a colour-management expert.
You just need to know that the colour you see on your screen is a preview, not necessarily an exact prediction of what will appear on the finished garment.
This becomes particularly important in a few situations.
You have a very specific brand colour
If your brand relies heavily on one distinctive colour, let your printer know.
Your brand guidelines and existing colour references can help determine the best way to reproduce it for the particular printing method you're using.
You're using very bright colours
Highly saturated RGB colours can be some of the trickiest to reproduce accurately in physical print.
If your entire brand is built around a fluorescent-looking colour, it's worth discussing it before production rather than discovering the difference when the boxes arrive.
You're printing on different garment colours
The same artwork can behave differently depending on what's underneath it.
A design printed onto a white T-shirt isn't dealing with the same starting point as that design printed onto a black garment.
The garment colour, print method and ink or print system can all influence how the final colour appears.
You're starting a clothing brand
If you're developing your first collection, colour is something worth considering across the whole brand, not just your website.
Your logo might look perfect on your homepage, but your customers are going to experience your brand physically too.
If you're putting your logo on tees, hoodies, caps, packaging and other products, thinking about how your colours will translate into the real world early on can save you some headaches later.
How to avoid colour surprises
The good news is that you don't need to panic every time someone mentions CMYK.
There are a few simple things you can do before sending artwork to print.
1. Tell your printer which colours matter
If there's a particular brand colour you're trying to match, flag it.
Don't assume the person printing your merch knows which shade of blue is the blue from your brand guidelines.
2. Don't judge colour solely from your screen
Your monitor is useful, but it isn't the finished product.
Especially when you're working with very bright or highly saturated colours, what you see on screen may not be what you get physically.
3. Keep your original brand colour information
Don't rely on a screenshot, colour picker or image grabbed from your website as your only colour reference.
Keep your proper brand colour specifications handy so they're available when you need them.
4. Prepare artwork for the printing method
RGB vs CMYK is only one part of preparing artwork for print.
The right file setup depends on what you're printing and how you're printing it, so make sure your artwork is suitable for the process being used.
5. Ask questions before production
If colour accuracy is important, talk to us before the job goes ahead.
It's much easier to discuss how a colour is likely to reproduce before production than to try and solve the problem after hundreds of garments have been printed.
The bottom line
RGB and CMYK aren't competing versions of the same thing. They're designed for different environments.
RGB uses light to create colour on screens.
CMYK uses ink to create colour in many print applications.
Because screens and physical printing create colour differently, what you see on your screen won't always be exactly what comes out in print.
And that's normal.
The important thing is knowing when colour accuracy matters, understanding that different printing methods behave differently, and communicating any important brand colours before production starts.
So the next time your printed blue looks slightly different from the blue on your laptop, you don't necessarily have a printing disaster on your hands.
You might just have RGB meeting the real world.
Need a hand with your artwork?
Not sure whether your artwork is ready for print, or worried about how a particular brand colour will translate onto your merch?
Send it through before production and we can help you work out what needs to happen next. You can always find us here.
