Job No:01077 Title:The fundamentals og Graphic Design
1ST
Proof Page:156
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Job No:01077 Title:The fundamentals og Graphic Design
1ST
Proof Page:156
156 The Fundamentals of Graphic Design The production process
RGB/CMYK
A colour is made up of different quantities of red,
green and blue light, which can be presented as a
ratio. These ratios produce different results in
different colour spaces. RGB is the additive primary
colour space that computer monitors use and CMYK
is the subtractive primary colour space used in the
four-colour printing process. In order to achieve
accurate and reliable colour reproduction, it is
necessary to know how the different devices in the
design and print production system use colour.
Red, green and blue (RGB) are the additive
primaries that form white light, and they are used to
produce colour images on a computer screen. The
RGB colour space that computer monitors use can
reproduce about 70 per cent of the colours of the
spectral gamut that can be perceived by the human
eye. Cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) are the
subtractive primaries used in the four-colour printing
process where each represents one of the print
colours. Computer images in the RGB colour space
are converted to the CYMK colour space for printing.
Getting colour right
Colour control is one of the primary tasks that a
graphic designer is responsible for in the print
production process. This is achieved through colour
management, a process that governs how colour is
translated from one piece of equipment to another
(for instance, from digital camera to a computer to
the printing press), ensuring accurate and
predictable colour reproduction. Colour management
is needed because each device responds to and
produces colour differently.
Colour spaces
Designers can work with different colour spaces –
systems that define the hue, saturation and value of a
colour in the different design and printing processes.
Colour spaces include RGB (red, green, blue) and
CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black), which are
used by colour monitors and the four-colour printing
process. However, there are other colour spaces,
such as the six-colour Hexachrome printing process
and the 16-bit system that stores colour information
and yields over 65,000 colours.
Specialist colour
Colour is a crucial part of graphic design today,
but it is something that consumers, clients and
designers take for granted. Colour can bring a design
to life, help to establish hierarchies, highlight key
information and add pace and emotion to a design.
However, it is a design aspect that is easy to get wrong
and causes problems when a job prints incorrectly.
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Job No:01077 Title:The fundamentals og Graphic Design
2ND
Proof Page:157
GreenMagenta
Cyan
Blue Red
Green
Black
Ye l l o w R e d B l u e
Ye l l ow C ya n
Magenta
White
Basic tools < Specialist colour > File formats 157
Subtractive primaries (above)
Each subtractive primary is formed from two of the
additive primary colours as shown above. Where two
subtractive primaries overlap, they create an additive
primary colour.
Additive primaries (above)
Additive primary colours represent a component of
white light. Where two additive primaries overlap,
they create a subtractive primary colour.
Describing colour
Every colour corresponds to a unique wavelength of light, but to communicate better concepts of colour, a
simple method of describing it has developed to make things easier. Colour can be described according to
three features: its hue or colour; its saturation or chroma; and its value or brightness.
Hue
Hue refers to the unique characteristic
of a colour that helps us visually
distinguish one colour from another.
Hues or colours are formed by different
wavelengths of light.
Saturation
Saturation or chroma refers to the purity
of a colour and saturation levels describe
a colour’s tendency to move towards or
away from grey.
Brightness
Brightness or value refers to how light
or dark a colour is. Changes in the
brightness value can be achieved by
mixing a colour with black or white.
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Job No:01077 Title:The fundamentals og Graphic Design
2ND
Proof Page:158
158 The Fundamentals of Graphic Design The production process
Printer
Different printing devices use different inks, which
means that a job will print with slightly different
colours depending on the device it is output on. An
inkjet will produce different results to a four-colour
litho press, which will again differ in result from a
six-colour litho press. For this reason, it is necessary
to consider how a design will be output so that the
colours reproduce as intended.
Websafe colours
Websafe colours are a group of 216 colours
considered to be safe for use in the design of web
pages. This palette came into being when computer
monitors were only able to display 256 colours and
were chosen to match the colour palettes of leading
web browsers of the time. The websafe colour palette
allows for the production of six shades of red, green
and blue. This palette has the highest number of
distinct colours within which each colour group can
be distinguished individually.
Various business cards by Parent Design (above)
These business cards by Parent Design are for different clients. Each card features the use of a different colour stock and silver
foil-blocked text. The different colours alter our perception and feeling towards the companies as they have various cognitive
meanings, such as pink for girls and blue for boys. Black gives a serious appearance; white has a clean and pure aspect; and the
reddish pink is playful. Careful colour selection is crucial to avoid unwanted interpretations.
Colour calibration
Calibration is a process whereby the colour
space of a monitor or other piece of equipment is
adjusted to be equal to that of a given standard. For
example, sRGB (standard RGB) is a device-
independent, calibrated colour space defined by
Hewlett Packard and Microsoft in the 1990s to provide
a consistent way to display colour Internet images on
computer screens.
Pantone system
The Pantone PMS colour system is one that covers a
wide range of different hues, including special,
metallic and pastel colours. The Pantone system
allocates a unique reference number to each hue and
shade to facilitate communication between
designers and printers, and to ensure that specific
colours are used in a design. Monitors can be
calibrated to the Pantone system so that on-screen
colours match those in the swatch books.
Monitor
A monitor or screen is a device used to produce
images using red, green and blue light. However,
monitors need to be calibrated so that they display
colours as they would print on an output device.
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Job No:01077 Title:The fundamentals og Graphic Design
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Proof Page:159
Basic tools < Specialist colour > File formats 159
Colour control patch
This provides a means of maintaining
colour consistency in photographed
images.
Ta b l e t
A drawing tablet gives a designer the
ability to draw freehand images directly
on to the computer screen.
Spyder
This is a colour calibration system for monitors and printers.
A monitor is calibrated so that a designer has an accurate idea
of how colours will appear when a job is printed.
Monitor
This is the device upon which a design is viewed.
It must be colour calibrated to give an accurate
representation of the colours that will reproduce
in print.
External storage
As artwork, images and
photos tend to be large
files that take up a lot
of storage space,
external hard drives are
useful for keeping the
main workstation
unclogged, in addition
to providing a means of
backing-up work.
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