RGB vs. CMYK: What's the difference?

Understanding the difference between RGB and CMYK is crucial for achieving your desired results in both digital and physical prints.

RGB = Red, Green, Blue.

CMYK = Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key (aka Black).

RGB is used for digital designs, while CMYK is used for physical prints. Before printing an RGB design, you need to check how your file looks in CMYK colours.

RGB Pros

• Suited for digital viewing.
• Adaptable for home & office prints.
• Easy to design on Photoshop and other digital creative platforms.
• CMYK-convertible.
• Endless range of colours.

RGB Cons

• Converting from RGB to CYMK isn’t always accurate; sometimes the colours can look slightly different from your original design.

‍CMYK Pros

• Suited to offset printing processes.
• Warmer tones on creamy/white paper.
• Vibrant colours on blue-white paper.

‍CMYK Cons

• Inks can be expensive.
• Limited colour selection.

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This is where it can get tricky as a designer. If you design a file on your laptop and then go to print it, you might notice the colours don’t look as you expected. This is because when you design digitally, you’re automatically using RGB, which means you could be using some colours that won’t translate well to CMYK. The most common problems occur with bright blues and greens. The best way to overcome this is to start designing in CMYK colour mode. You can change the colour space in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign as you’re working on it to check the colours before printing. This process is also known as soft proofing.

When to Choose RGB

Web & app design

• Buttons
• Icons
• Graphics
• Websites

Branding

• Digital logos
• Digital ads

Social media

• Media for posts
• Profile photos and backgrounds

Visual content

• Video (television and social media content)
• Digital graphics
• Infographics
• Photographs for websites, social media, or apps
• Emails

The Best Formats For RGB

• Photoshop files (.PSD)
•  .JPG
•  .GIF
• .PNG
• .PNG
• .PN

When To Use CMYK

Branding

• Business cards
• Brochures/booklets
• Leaflets
• Stickers
• Signs
• Magazines

Advertising

• Billboards
• Posters
• Flyers
• Vehicle wraps

Merchandise

• T-shirts, hats, tote bags, etc.
• Printed novelties — pens, mugs, etc.

Commercial print materials

• Packaging
• Menus
• Price lists

The Best Formats For CMYK

• PDF — Most printers can handle PDF files easily.
• Adobe Illustrator (.AI) — Standard program for people working with CMYK digitally.

Glossary

• Colour Gamut — The range of colours a device can display.
• Soft Proofing — The process of checking how digital colours will look when they are printed.
• CMYK — Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (Black) colour mode, used for physical prints.
• RGB — Red, Green and Blue colour mode, used for digital design.
• Colour mode — A system dictating how colours are represented.
• Additive — A colour model represented by RGB, where lights are layered to create brighter colours.
• Subtractive — A colour model represented by CMYK, where light is reflected and colours may appear duller than RGB.