Adding color to a web page, this poses little problem. Pick your color and there it is. But if you are having your document reproduced on paper, what type of color required by your design should be one of the major considerations.

Spot color

When thinking of color on a document, this is what most people think of. Spot color is best suited for such things as solid borders, colored text, and colored lines.

Pantone, an industry standard in color as, defines it: "Any color produced without screens or dots".

"Screening" in it's most simple definition, refers to lightening or making a color more transparent by reducing the overall coverage. In the offset process, this is accomplished by "blocking" a percentage of the overall coverage through the use of dots. More dots result in a heavier coverage and less transparency. This should not imply a spot color couldn't be screened; merely the color itself is not produced through the use of a screen.

RGB

RGB stands for "Red, Green, Blue", the three primary color components utilized in this system. You are probably already familiar with this one. Many graphics software will manipulate color through the use of some variation of RGB, as do many desktop color printers, although these will also include black for obvious reasons.

When printing RGB colors we get into what is known as "process color". The most common is four colors, but three color process works along the same principal, which I will cover shortly.

RGB is capable of reproducing photographs and color artwork, but it is not a substitute for four-color process if a true color reproduction is required.

Very few printing companies will work in RGB, converting such work to the CMYK format instead. This is very important to keep in mind when outputting files for transport to a printing company. If your software allows, you should always convert your work to CMYK and verify your colors.

CMYK

CMYK denotes "Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow, and blacK". CMYK is the basis of four-color process and of nearly every high-resolution color photo printed. You could also have six, eight, or more colors, but we'll stick to four. Also note, the letter "K" is used to denote black, this is done so as to not become confused with blue.

Process color reproduction works using series of colored dots of a specific size placed in a certain pattern. If you grab a magnifying glass and look at a color magazine cover, you will see a sample of process color.

Individually, each color is rather bland, but when looked at as a whole, the human eye is fooled into seeing the overall colors and shades. This is really the only practical method to reproduce full color photographs or artwork on a printing press.

As you can see, the methods required to output your color document can become quite complex rather quickly. You should always keep in mind the final output equipment, the medium being used and what your color requirements actually are. People tend to take color for granted when designing on their desktops.

Putting together a full color website, with loads of photographs poses no problem, but if you were to try and print that fantastic home page on your desktop, you would probably be buying a lot of new cartridges.

Even though technology has advanced to the point of bringing photographic printers into the home, designing a document to take to your local printer should be given serious consideration as to the amount of color used. This single factor alone could add a significant increase in the overall cost and labor involved.

So keep these fact in mind when designing your documents and you'll be on your way to better images and lower costs.




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Over the years Greg has segued into the technological portions of the web. Along with his partner, he has made the transition into web design and search engine optimization. More of his articles can be read on his website, www.wolfsrealm.com . Along with informative articles, he also maintains an advice and open topic forum: www.wolfsrealm.com where he will gladly answer technical or design questions and is always open to discussions on a wide variety of topics.