The terms CMYK and RGB are used a lot in the printing and graphics world, and it's important to understand the difference.

What is CMYK?

CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and "Key," or black. These are the ink colors used during the printing process.

CMYK subtractive color model showing Yellow, Magenta, and Cyan circles overlapping to create Red, Green, Blue, and a black center

What is RGB?

RGB stands for Red, Green and Blue. These are the colors of light used by your monitor to display your document on-screen. Black isn't listed because on-screen black is an absence of light. A mixture of red, green and blue light produces white.

RGB additive color model showing Red, Green, and Blue circles overlapping to create Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, and a white center

How does this affect my design?

Printers don’t print in RGB. Designs created in RGB are converted to CMYK before printing, which can cause some colors — especially bright or highly saturated ones — to look different in print than they do on screen.

Because screens can display a wider range of colors than printers can reproduce, these shifts are normal during conversion.

Many digital images are JPEG files, and JPEGs are usually created in RGB. For best results, we recommend creating your design in CMYK and saving it as a PDF.

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