Colour has another role that doesn’t rely on its symbolic associations, and this is in the field of information, where its use is as a means of making information clear and legible. In this area the originality of the idea takes second place to the visibility and immediate readability of the message.

Fire brigades use leaflet printing with bold colours in order to attract awareness about risks of not checking your smoke alarms. But because there is such a large range of colours, different hues can be used to make blocks of information distinct from the other information that surrounds them. This function is of tremendous importance in the design of such material as timetables, annual reports, leaflet printing, forms, calendars, sign systems and maps.

Most work of this nature can be read and under stood to only a small degree when produced in black and white, because the greater the complexity of columns and facts, the harder it is for people to find their way around what they are looking at and comprehend it. But by including coloured rules to separate vertical and/or horizontal columns, or coloured tints behind selected areas, or by marking out particular items in colour when leaflet printing, the designer can reduce these problems.

Colour distinctions are extremely helpful when signs are read from a distance, as are the road signs on a highway that distinguish between minor roads and highways. I find that the best way to approach complex problems of tabular design is first to conceive the initial concept in monochromatic terms and then to introduce secondary elements and colors. It is far easier to assess illegibility objectively in monochrome and then to add other colours one by one to resolve areas of poor legibility and clarity.

Another form of colour ’signposting’ concerns shop signs. This extremely important visual element informs shoppers immediately of where to purchase their desired commodity. This is particularly important for large chain stores, such as Sainsburys, Marks and Spencer and Waitrose.

They know that as customers move around from town to town, city to city, country to country, on business or holiday, they must be able to pick out their favourite store from the inevitable sea of neon, display and billboards that surrounds any busy shopping area. The corporate colour schemes
are often designed to be bright for just this purpose.

Colour is also used to suggest freshness, with bright blues, greens and yellows being the colours most often chosen where vitality and sparkle are associated with the product.

Obviously, where there is an association with fresh water and coolness, blue has a prominent role, as does green for the promotion of field sports and other outdoor pursuits. Fresh fruit and vegetables, which stress freshness and goodness ask for the same kind of treatment, stressing freshness and goodness.

The use of pastel colours is also much in evidence in packaging for pharmaceutical products, but the nature of some products, such as medicines, demands that they be presented in a bright, fresh, clean manner, suggesting much the same quality of health associated with eating fresh fruit and salads.

We have seen a surge in all things green over the past 2 years or so, the use of lime green and yellow for leaflet printing, I would go so far as to say its been the most common colour for flyer printing we have seen printed bar none.

It seems everyone has been at it, we even came across the biggest brand in the world – ‘Coca Cola’ having a go.

Many colours have messages that are internationally recognized and symbolize various actions, warnings, or products the world over. The most obvious example is the code for traffic signals: red for stop, green forgo. Although it is very easy to fall into the trap of generalizations, colours do have certain properties that remain the same through the pendulum swings of fashion which affect other aspects of colour, such as acceptability and popularity. it is these properties that convey the message of each colour.

By ‘properties’ I mean aspects such as volume, excitement value, temperature, and symbolic value. Let’s start with volume. There are quiet colours, such as light blue, light pink, and soft grey, and there are loud colours, such as bright reds and
bright greens. Their ‘volutme’ comes from their dominance (how much they seem to jump out at you), or from their recessive ness (how much they sink into the background). Dominanant, or loud, colours are aggressive, whereas recessive, or paler, colours are passive.

You might use quiet colours for a product such as a fabric softener, with its connotations of soft blankets and woolens, but it is unlikely that you would use loud colours for such a product. You’d might use loud colours for a food product, such as a salt, which will appear on the supermarket shelves among containers full of the same product, and choose bright colours such as red and bright blue
on white, simply so that your product will standout from all the rest.

Of course there are other considerations to be taken into account when choosing a colour, and they all combine to create the final product, but each must be assessed on its own before the whole is put together. So, onto the next – excitement value. ‘Excitement’ can refer to warning, danger, risk, and
fear. The colours used most commonly to signify excitement are red and orange, used extensively ill the areas of poisons and lethal chemicals, explosives and road hazards; but, particularly in the case of red, they also represent blood, horror and revolution. Conversely, for products with no – excitement value, a designer may want to put across the opposite image and use safe colours.
These are usually blues, browns, dark greens or greys.

Spot Colour is used by actually mixing ink to the desired colour rather than using the CMYK process to achieve it. The printer will mix varying amounts of colour to reach the correct consistency and then this is printed directly onto the document.

Its not un-common to see a ‘full colour’ print job having an additional spot colour or ‘special’ as its known added to it either during the actual printing process or added after in a seperate process. Some large printing machines have an additional facility for this, taking form a 4 colour machine to a 5th or 6th colour machine, so they are able to print the whole document using full colour and two spot colours in one pass.

Spot colour is common when metallic colours are required, whereby they will not be achievable using the CMYK process.

What is CMYK or Process Color?

CMYK or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black are used in the industry standard colour mixing techniques to achieve full colour printing of just about everything from A5 Leaflets and flyers, to full colour brochures and newspapers. Have you ever noticed on the back of a newspaper that there are several blocks of colour, these are used for registration of the four colours. When CMYK are mixed in the correct proportions they produce millions of colour possibilities. Sir Isaac Newton developed the technique over 300 years ago, using the CMYK which are directly opposite the RGB on a chart known as Newtons ‘Colour Circle’

Full colour printing presses use CMYK inks in a subtractive process to absorb light which is then reflected from the white of the paper or card underneath. In a very similar method to mixing paint like a child would do at school, i.e red & yellow mixed together make green, the ink used in varying density to create the desired result.  This technique is also known as Four Colour Process or Full Colour Process and has been with us for many years.

The range of colour that CMYK can produce is vast, but it has a limit as is not as wide a range as that of RGB. As a direct result of this bright colours with intense colour values such as Orange, Green, and Blue can sometimes appear to dull or sometime dirty, however red will appear almost the same with either process.

Most professional colour printing companies will be able to reproduce almost every colour imaginable, but for those specific colours which are not available in CMYK, then the printer will usually use a ‘SPOT’ colour.

What is RGB Color?

Scanner and digital cameras create images using combinations of just three colors: Red, Green and Blue (RGB). These are what is know as the primary colors of visible light and this how computers and televisions display the colour that we see. RGB colours will appear more vibrant as light is being ‘transmitted’ or being projected directly into the viewers eyes.

These 3 colours when combined with different amounts make up all of the monitor or TV pixels that you see.

Many computer software uses RGB as a default as desktop monitors display this colour themselves. Desktop printers and laser printers also use this 3 colour technique in order to simplify the output of a printed sheet.

RGB Must be Converted to CMYK Color in Order to Print

Images photographed using a digital camera are usually saved using RGB. These will need to be converted to CMKK before they can be printed using full colour process. Most image software is capable of doing this, however there can be some slight shift changes in the colour when it converts, these can easily be addressed by adjusting the contrast and brightness etc.

Colour charts can be used for converting rgb colours into CMYK, and PANTONE is the industry standard. Pantone supply various colour matching books in particular the Pantone Colour Bridge set, which have the RGB colours next to the CMYK equivalent making it easier to match them.

We here at Print-Print ant you to be pleased with your print job, so taking time to prepare your document prior to it being printed is very important, so please feel free to ask us for our advice on colour conversion.

Please call us if you need to discuss any artwork queries, either call us on 01952 850730

or Contact us via email, we are only too happy to help.

This is our first blog – so you’ll have to forgive us if its a slow starting. We plan to use this blog as means of sharing some of our knowledge and experiences form the world of design and full colour printing.colour printing.lhkjh