Colors for printing, select the “Clear” CMYK colors

CMYK color scheme stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key. It is this model that is used in the printing of printed products, since it allows minimizing the amount of ink used, because if the layout contains white, then the white surface of the material replaces it in print. But, when preparing a layout in print, it is not enough to simply depict something, in this case, the colors on the finished product may turn out faded and dirty. In order to understand how to avoid this, consider the principle of color mixing:

As you can see from this scheme, at the intersection of all three colors, a dark dirty color is obtained. In order to avoid the impression of “dirt” when printing, it is desirable to make a color of two colors.

The technology of mixing colors when printing looks like this:

However, the technology of using two colors gives a rather limited palette, so composite colors are also necessary, and it should be borne in mind that the juiciest color is obtained if the amount of any primary color is 100%. But, if the sum of colors of all colors exceeds 300%, then as a result, the finished product will result in daubing, therefore, choosing colors, you have to do arithmetic.

In the selection of shades should take into account two features:

1. composite colors have an advantage over one paint;
2. blue color is usually more intense than other dyes.

Go through the features of printing individual colors:

• the most uniform gray will be if all colors participate in equal quantities.
• the brightest red is obtained by mixing 100% pink and 100% yellow. Darker shades of red can be obtained with the addition of blue and black. Adding blue paint gives a deeper red, and black is usually used to create contrasting areas, shadows, contours, or to make the color more "dusty".
• the brightest orange will turn out if the amount of yellow is 100%. If it is less, the color will be inexpressibly pale.
• The brightest green consists of 100% blue and 100% yellow. But if the amount of one of these colors is reduced, the color will still remain bright enough.
• Classic blue consists of 100% blue and 50% pink.
• there are cases when a deep black color is very important during printing, but pure black ink (C - 0%; M - 0%; Y –0%; K - 100%) - does not meet these requirements, in this case, when preparing the image for pure black print is replaced with a composite one, which, however, must meet the requirements of the printing house (the sum of inks should not exceed 300%)
• complex colors such as gold, brown, beige are also often found in print, the most successful bundles are:
• gold: C 30%; M 30%; Y 100%; K 5%;
• brown: C 50%; M 70%; Y 100%; K 30%;
• corporal: C 6%; M 30%; Y 50%; K 0%;
• beige: C 20%; M 35%; Y 44%; K 0%;

When transferring images from the RGB model to CMYK, the colors behave rather erratically, do not forget to check that they are correct in the CMYK model.

Of course, sometimes you have to ignore these rules, for example in the case of printing photos or images with a gradient. But, if you want the layout you have prepared on print to cause more positive impressions, you should not forget about these rules.