Why colors look different in print than on screen

You picked a bright turquoise on your laptop, printed the flyer, and the turquoise came back flatter. Or a deep black background looked slightly brown. This is not a broken file or a bad printer. It happens because a screen and a printed page make color in opposite ways. Knowing why helps you design colors that survive the trip to paper.

Light versus ink

A screen is a light source. Each pixel mixes red, green and blue light; turn all three up and you get white, turn them off and you get black. This is called additive color, and it is what RGB means.

Paper is not a light source. It reflects the room’s light, and ink works by absorbing part of it. Cyan ink absorbs red, magenta absorbs green, yellow absorbs blue. Layer them and less light comes back; this is subtractive color. A press uses cyan, magenta, yellow and black, written CMYK (K is the black ink, sometimes called the key plate). RGB vs CMYK explained covers the basics in more detail.

Because the two systems work so differently, they can show different sets of colors. The full range of colors a device can show is called its gamut. A modern screen’s gamut includes very pure, glowing greens, blues and pinks that four inks on paper simply cannot reach.

The colors that change the most

• Neon and electric colors. Bright greens, glowing cyans, hot pinks and vivid violets usually come out calmer. A converter has to choose the nearest printable color.
• Saturated blues. A strong RGB blue often turns slightly purple or dull in print, because the inks that make blue (cyan and magenta) are not as pure as the blue light of a screen.
• Very dark colors. On screen, a dark navy and a near-black can look clearly different. On paper they may come out closer to each other, and very dark areas may look slightly warmer or cooler depending on the ink mix.
• Light tints and pastels usually print well, but a very light tint can almost disappear on some papers.

Things that are not the file

Even a carefully prepared CMYK file can look different from one print to the next, because the result depends on more than the numbers in the file.

• Paper. Coated (glossy or silk) paper keeps ink on the surface and gives cleaner, more saturated color. Uncoated paper soaks ink in, so colors look softer and darker areas spread a little. Profiles are made for specific paper types; CMYKflow converts with GRACoL 2013, which is made for offset printing on coated paper.
• Press and process. An offset press, a digital press and a desktop printer all lay down ink differently.
• Finish. Lamination or varnish can make colors look deeper (gloss) or softer (matte).
• Your screen. Screens differ in brightness and color. A very bright screen makes everything look more luminous than paper can be.
• The light you look in. The same print looks different under warm indoor light and daylight.

Why converting it yourself helps

If you send an RGB file, someone converts it to CMYK before printing: the print shop, their software or the press workflow. You only see the result on paper. When you convert first, you see the CMYK version before it is printed and can react: change a color, ask for a proof, or accept the result knowing what you will get.

CMYKflow’s Convert to CMYK converts the RGB photos, colors and gradients of your PDF using GRACoL 2013. RGB with its own profile is converted from that profile; RGB without a profile is treated as sRGB, which is what most design tools use. Converted colors are capped at 320% total ink so that dark areas stay printable. Every version comes with a free preview and a view of each ink plate, so you can see where the ink goes.

Dark areas and ink

Dark colors have a second problem besides looking different: they need a lot of ink. A near-black made from all four inks can approach the limit that paper can dry. In our poster example, the near-black background came to 290% total ink after a plain conversion. That is why Safer for press exists: it replaces part of the cyan, magenta and yellow in dark and neutral areas with black, which keeps the color similar with less ink (228% in the same example). Read more in Printing large dark backgrounds.

Practical tips for designers

1. Pick brand colors that print. If your brand has a print version of its colors (CMYK values), use them for printed pieces.
2. Avoid relying on neon. If a design only works with a glowing color, it will lose impact on paper. Test a calmer version.
3. Give dark areas some contrast. Dark details on dark backgrounds can merge in print. Make them a bit lighter than on screen.
4. Use pure black for small text. In our tests, pure black (#000000) text and shapes came out as black ink only, which keeps small text sharp. See Rich black vs plain black.
5. Ask for a proof for anything expensive or color-critical, such as packaging or a large print run.
6. Check the preview before you send. The point is to see the change while you can still adjust.