CMYK vs. RGB Design

Primary colors The colors that make up the base for every other color created. Depending on whether you are looking at it from science, printed material or through a monitor (screen), the base colors will differ. When we took science in elementary school, we learned the base colors were red, blue and yellow. All other colors were made by mixing these primary colors: orange, purple, green, etc.

CMYK CMYK is a subtractive color profile where cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black) are combined and subtracted from black to create every other color. However, those science lessons don’t apply the same to design. In a CMYK color profile, cyan, magenta, blue and key (black) are used to create all other colors.

RGB RBG is an additive color profile where red, green or blue are added together to create every other color. For example red and green combine to make yellow. In RGB, red, green and blue are combined to create every other color.

CMYK vs. RGB CMYK is used for print materials. RGB is typically used for material viewed through a screen (TV, computer monitor, etc). It’s easy to visualize how these colors look through a Venn Diagram interlapping of the base colors that comprise each profile. The image to the right combines cyan and magenta to create blue, magenta and yellow to make red, and cyan and yellow to make green. When combining all three, you get black. The image to the right combines red and green to make yellow, green and blue to make cyan, and red and blue to make magenta. Combining all three colors creates white.

Aside from ensuring the color comes out right in the design, Hexadecimal values also give the CMYK and RGB values for users to input into programs for design. Because monitors on TVs and computers may vary based on the settings, the hexadecimal value guarantees a designer that the blue they want to use will print blue, not another shade. If I want to use white, the hexadecimal value is #ffffff. If I want to use black, the hexadecimal value is # Hexadecimal Values Hexadecimal values use a six digit combination of numbers (0- 9) and the letters (A-Z) to assign a value to each color. By assigning these values to a color, the value tells a program or computer which color to use. Hexadecimal values: Cyan: #00ffff Magenta: #ff00ff Yellow: #ffff00 Red: #ff0000 Green: #00ff000 Blue: #0000ff