RGB vs CMYK – Which one to choose? [Infographic]

Did you know that the color gamut is not the last aspect that determines the success of a design project? Inappropriate spectrum can mess up the whole picture, so the knowledge of appropriate color combinations is vital for someone who claims to be a designer.

Even experienced gurus, not to mention the usual customers, often face the problem of a color model choice. Generally speaking, you have complete freedom in decisions but most of them will not have commercial success. Among the variety of color models there are two, by selecting the right one you definitely won’t regret. We mean RGB and CMYK – the capital letters that mean nothing to most of us.

However, they do have meaning for professional designers. These are two general concepts commonly used in the design.

RGB VS CMYK – what’s better?

Look at the infographics and you’ll see the main differences. They’re quite simple, which makes it even more surprising the fact that beginners and even experienced designers make horrific mistakes when choosing and operating in this mode.

Using RGB you can get more output variations, this model can be easily converted to CMYK in Photoshop (Menu> Image> Mode> CMYK). Don’t forget that printers, although they accept RGB, make horrible conversions with undesirable final result.

RGB vs CMYK

Source: DesignContest

The bottom line

The best thing you can do when choosing a color model is to take into account its application area. RGB to CMYK conversion reduces the data, so be aware it will be forever lost. In case you want to save as much data as possible, the only possible solution of doing color conversions is in the final stage of rasterization process. Also do not forget that these two models – RGB and CMYK – look quite different on the screen.

1 thought on “RGB vs CMYK – Which one to choose? [Infographic]”

  1. Erm…

    In the “RGB is an additive, projected light color system” box it says: “The result of mixing all colors is black.” That’s not true: the result of mixing all colors is WHITE, as shown by the graphic in the box.

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