Meeting your expectations in print

When you run a business of any size, the quality of your printed materials reflects directly on your brand, from business cards and brochures to packaging and signage.

But anyone who has had something printed knows the frustration: the colours that looked perfect on screen come back looking, well, off. A little duller. Slightly wrong. Not quite you.

It is one of the most common print headaches there is, and the good news is there is a clear reason for it. It comes down to the different ways colour works on a screen versus on paper, and the colour systems behind each: RGB and HEX, CMYK, and Pantone. Understand these and you will know exactly why the shift happens, and how to get the result you actually want.

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Why your colours look different in print

Here is the core of it. Screens make colour with light, paper makes colour with ink, and the two work in opposite directions.

A screen starts black and adds red, green and blue light to create every colour you see. This is called additive colour, and because it is made of light, it can produce bright, vivid, almost glowing results. Print does the reverse. It starts with white paper and adds ink to subtract light, which is why it is called subtractive colour. Ink can only ever reflect light, never emit it, so print simply cannot reach some of the electric brightness a screen can. That vivid on-screen green or glowing blue often lands softer and darker on paper, because the ink physically cannot reproduce it.

On top of that, the paper itself, the lighting you view it under, and whether your monitor is calibrated all nudge the result. So a colour shift between screen and print is not a mistake or a printer getting it wrong, it is physics. The craft is in managing it, which is part of why good design is invisible.

System Made of Used for Tends to look
RGB / HEX Light (red, green, blue) Screens, web, digital Bright and vivid
CMYK Ink (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) Print Slightly softer
Pantone (PMS) Pre-mixed ink Brand spot colours Exact and consistent

RGB and HEX: colour for screens

RGB stands for red, green and blue, the three colours of light a screen mixes to make everything you see. Each channel runs from 0 to 255, so pure red is 255, 0, 0. This is the system for anything that lives on a screen: your website, your social media, your digital ads.

HEX is simply RGB written as a shorter code, the six-character values you see throughout web design, like #FFFFFF for white or #1D4ED8 for a particular blue. It holds the same colour information as RGB, just packaged neatly for the web. The takeaway is easy: if a colour is destined for a screen, RGB or HEX is what you want.

CMYK: colour for print

CMYK is the print equivalent, standing for cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black). Standard full-colour printing lays down tiny dots of these four inks in varying amounts to build up the image, which is why it is often called four-colour process printing. Each ink is measured as a percentage from 0 to 100.

Because CMYK is the system the press actually uses, anything headed for print should be set up in CMYK from the very start. Designing in RGB and converting to CMYK at the last second is where a lot of unpleasant colour surprises come from, because that vivid RGB version may simply have no exact CMYK match, so it shifts the moment it converts.

Pantone (PMS): colour for consistency

Pantone, or the Pantone Matching System (PMS), solves a different problem: consistency. A Pantone colour is a specific, pre-mixed ink with its own number, a little like choosing a paint colour by code at the hardware store. Every printer in the world mixes that number to the exact same recipe, so your brand colour comes out identical whether it is printed in Brisbane or Berlin.

This matters most for brand colours, especially logos, where “close enough” really is not good enough. Pantone is also how you reproduce colours that four-colour CMYK struggles with, such as metallics, fluorescents or very specific brand shades. The trade-off is cost, since spot colours add to a print job, so they are used where consistency really counts. Colour also carries real psychological meaning, which is a whole topic in itself, explored in our piece on the psychological effects of colour.

One brand colour, every system

So how does this work in practice for a brand? Your brand colour should be defined in every system it will appear in, and documented in your brand guidelines. Here is the same brand blue expressed across all of them. Note that conversions between systems are always approximate, which is part of the point.

System Used for Example (a brand blue)
HEX Web and screen #1D4ED8
RGB Screen 29, 78, 216
CMYK Print 87, 64, 0, 15 (approx)
Pantone Brand spot colour Close to PMS 2728 C

By recording your colour in HEX for screen, CMYK for print and Pantone for critical brand work, you hand every designer and printer the exact recipe, and your brand stays consistent everywhere it appears. This is precisely the kind of detail that belongs in your visual language and brand guidelines, and in the working files you own.

Getting print right

Colour is only one piece of getting print right. Two others make a big difference.

First, offset versus digital. Digital printing is fast and cost-effective for short runs and quick turnarounds, and these days a great digital job rivals offset for quality. Offset printing suits large runs and certain finishes and spot colours, but it takes longer and costs more to set up. Neither is simply “better”, they suit different jobs.

Factor Digital Offset
Best for Short runs, quick turnaround Large print runs
Speed Fast Slower, more setup
Cost Lower to start Better per unit at volume
Spot colours Limited Pantone and special finishes

Second, paper stock. The stock you print on is one of the single biggest decisions in any print job, and it changes everything, including colour. The same ink looks noticeably different on coated versus uncoated paper, which is exactly why Pantone has separate coated (C) and uncoated (U) references for the same colour.

This is where experience earns its keep. Getting colour, process and stock right, and always proofing before a full run, is the difference between print that meets your expectations and print that disappoints. It is also why working with people who understand print management, and who know both design and the press, takes the risk out of it. As with most things, you get what you pay for, the same truth behind why logo prices vary so wildly.

Frequently asked questions

Why do my colours look different when printed?
Because screens make colour with light and print makes colour with ink, working in opposite directions. Screens can produce brighter, more vivid colours than ink can physically reproduce, so vibrant on-screen shades often print softer and darker. Paper stock, lighting and monitor calibration add further shifts. It is physics, not a mistake, and it can be managed with the right setup.

What is the difference between RGB and CMYK?
RGB (red, green, blue) is made of light and used for screens, websites and digital. CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) is made of ink and used for print. RGB can display brighter colours than CMYK ink can reproduce, which is why designs should be set up in CMYK for print rather than converted from RGB at the last minute.

What is a HEX code?
A HEX code is a six-character way of writing an RGB colour, used throughout web design, such as #FFFFFF for white or #1D4ED8 for a blue. It contains the same colour information as RGB, just in a shorter format that web browsers and design tools use. HEX is for screen and digital work, not for print.

What is Pantone (PMS) and when should I use it?
Pantone, or the Pantone Matching System, is a library of pre-mixed inks, each with a number, so a colour is reproduced identically by any printer anywhere. Use it for brand colours and logos where consistency is essential, and for colours that four-colour CMYK cannot reproduce well, such as metallics or fluorescents. It costs more, so it is used where it counts.

Should I design in RGB or CMYK for print?
For anything being printed, design in CMYK from the start, since that is the system the press uses. Designing in RGB and converting at the end often causes colours to shift, because vivid RGB values may have no exact CMYK match. For screen and web work, the opposite is true: use RGB or HEX. Match the colour system to where the work will appear.

What is the difference between offset and digital printing?
Digital printing is fast and cost-effective for short runs and quick turnarounds, with quality that now rivals offset for most jobs. Offset printing suits large runs and special finishes or Pantone spot colours, but takes longer and costs more to set up. Neither is better overall, the right choice depends on quantity, finish and budget.

Read more: How to influence customers with colour