Screens make colour with light. Printers make colour with ink. A logo that only exists in one system will disappoint you in the other.
Screens make colour with light. Printers make colour with ink. A logo that only exists in one system will disappoint you in the other.
This is the single most common reason a business owner opens a box of business cards and says the blue looks wrong.
RGB is for screens
Red, green, and blue light mix to make every colour on your monitor, your phone, and your website. The range is wide. Bright blues, hot pinks, and glowing greens all work.
CMYK is for print
Cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink overlap on paper. The range is narrower. Some colours that look brilliant on screen cannot be mixed from ink at all.
A vivid screen blue converted straight to CMYK comes out flat. Nothing went wrong. The ink simply cannot reach that colour.
What a finished logo package contains
Your logo must arrive in both systems, with the values written down:
- A vector master file, which scales to any size without going soft
- RGB or HEX values for the website, social profiles, and email signature
- CMYK values for printers, signage, and vehicle wraps
- A Pantone reference if the colour has to match exactly across suppliers
If your designer gave you a single JPG, you do not have a logo package. You have a picture of one.
Pick the print colour first
Choose the CMYK or Pantone colour first, then match the screen version to it. Doing it the other way round means picking a colour the printer cannot make and then compromising.
Screens lie about colour anyway
No two monitors are calibrated the same. Your designer's screen and yours will never agree exactly. This is why the numbers matter more than the picture. Approve the values, not the screenshot.
Write both sets of values into your brand standards and the problem never comes back.
I build logo packages with every file and value a printer or a developer will ask for. Email jon@delcaromedia.com.