So you want to learn about colors?

---

Perhaps at some point you've wondered, "Why does pretty much every listing on Etsy with a color chart have a disclaimer saying that the color you receive may not be the exact color you see?  There's got to be something to that, right?"

Well, astute observer, it turns out there is something to that.  And it has to do with the fact that the colors you see on your screen are very much not the exact same as the colors that you'll see in your printed product.  At this has to do with the boring yet important concept of color space.

You see, your computer monitor exists in the RGB (red, blue, green) color space.  RGB is the color mode used for digital screens like computers, phones, and TVs. This color model creates bright and vibrant images due to the backlighting of the screens.  And the color space is huge meaning that there are literally millions and millions of colors that your phone or computer screen can generate.  

Unfortunately, however, printing technology doesn't have the ability to exactly replicate the RGB color space.  Instead, most printing relies on the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and key(black)) color space.  The CMYK model works by subtracting colors from natural white light because, well, most printed things are not backlit like your phone screen is.  

Colors in RGB can appear more vibrant because of the light emitted from screens, but these colors might not be achievable with CMYK printing which is also compounded by the fact that the CMYK color space is smaller than RGB, so there are less colors to work with.  As a result, in some cases the printer or software has to adapt its RGB view of the world to the printer's CMYK view of the world by making compromises on specific colors.  

And this, dear reader, is why sometimes when you see a color on your screen it doesn't exactly translate to the same color on a printed object.  

So, how do we deal with this?  Well, for the most part by using quality materials and equipment.  Our printers are professional equipment that print at up to 1200x1200 dpi (a technical term for how densely the printer prints).  We have optimized color profiling software to translate between the RGB colors you see and the CMYK colors we print.  And, we use high quality materials (more on that here) that maximize ink absorption while minimizing color loss.  Not to toot our own horn, but we've invested quite a bit in professional equipment to ensure quality.

The result?  Vibrant colors that, like most everyone else, may not exactly match the color you see on the screen but is probably closer than many of our competitors who rely on 600 dpi printing on semi-professional or craft-grade printers.  There's nothing necessarily wrong with these tools but there is a little bit of the "you get what you pay for" principle at work when it comes to accurately reproducing complex artwork and photographs.

But what if I demand perfect color matching to a very specific shade of blue that's critical to my special event?  Well, that's likely very achievable if you're willing to pay for it.  Commercial printers can produce "spot color" where ink is mixed to a precise shade using a common color mechanism (Pantone being the most famous).  It's great.  The colors are amazing.  But, you're going to pay for that quality as the inks are expensive, the pre-printing process is time-consuming, and the equipment required to print good spot color is quite expensive.

Oh, one last thing, it's our personal opinion that you should be wary of anyone who "guarantees" to match a color that you provide to them.  A good starting point question might be, "are you going to match the color using spot color" and then "which color system do you propose to use to match?"  If the answer to the first question is not "yes" and the answer to the second question is not "Pantone" then you may want to think twice.  CMYK (also referred to as "process color") is good but not perfect.

High quality equipment + optimized color management = a reasonably good shot at closely matching color whether vibrant reds or muted pinks.  We think you'll be happy with the result.  And we're generally happy to produce production proofs to help make sure your finished product meets your expectations.