All about color models and Pantone inks.
So, in today's episode of "Melisa making your life easier"...
I’m going to tell you all you need to know about color.
Well, not all... but a very simple overview for any business owner, without the complicated part.
"Why should I even care about this?" you might be asking...
Well, because if your "brand color" is an RGB color, you may get disappointed when you try to print your business cards...
(and this happens SO often!)
So, here's the thing:
When you see a color on a screen, that color is created by millions of little red, green and blue lamps (RGB MODEL) that combine their lights to create different colors.
When looking at a sample of your business cards on your computer, you see them vibrant and bright, because they are shown to you by these little lamps. That is why you can even see them when you are in a dark place!
Now, when you see your actual business card once printed, there are no lamps anymore to show you those colors. Everything you see was created by cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks combined (CMYK MODEL), and that's why you need to turn on the light on your room to see them properly.
Let's say now choose the RGB green you see in the picture above as your brand color.
That is a super bright and vibrant green and it will look amazing on any digital product you make.
But whenever you print it, that green would look darker and not as vibrant as the one you saw on the screen (it will look more like the CMYK green from the pic above).
So, if you will be printing stuff with your brand color, I'd recommend create your designs in CMYK color model, so you see them in your screen not EXACTLY but similar to what you will get when you print them.
Now... you may still want that cute vibrant green even on your business cards... (and I wouldn't blame you, it is amazing!)
THEN THIS IS ONE OF THE MOMENTS WHERE PANTONE COLORS CAN HELP YOUR BRAND! (This is not an AD... is just how the printing world goes...)
Because Pantone is a company (not a color model!) that creates INKS, and because they have inks in every color imaginable (or almost...) you can print your design with a unique Fluorescent Green ink, instead of creating it mixing 4 different inks and getting a dull looking one (like it happens in CYMK printing).
They even have inks in metallic colors like gold, copper, silver, etc...
The only downside to Pantone colors, is that it is more expensive to print with those inks. (Yes, not everything is Pantone Romance Rose color :P).
ONE LAST IMPORTANT THING BEFORE YOU GO:
Unless you have a big budget, I'd suggest not creating your designs based on Pantone colors. Big brands like Coca Cola, or Milka, use this type of inks, because they need to be super consistent in all their communications. And their color is a HUGE part of their brand.
WHAT DO I RECOMMEND INSTEAD?
Choose a specific CMYK color as your brand's color, and write down the key, so every time you make a new piece, you can be sure you are using the same color.
When I create a brand manual for my clients, I always include the CMYK color with its correspondance in RGB and in HEX colors, because for example in CANVA, you cannot choose an exact CMYK color, but you can put the HEX code instead. It looks like this:
So, there you have it! I hope you found this information useful and that you can put it to practice today!
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