If you're not a professional designer or printer, understanding the intricacies of color printing can be challenging. But understanding these intricacies will help you print vinyl banners for your retractable banner stands. You might have questions like: What’s the difference between Azure and Cobalt? Is Admiral even a color? Why do my colors appear washed out, bleached, or overexposed when I print them?

We’ve got the answers you’re looking for in this article. We’ll walk you through all the key points you need to remember so your on-screen and off-screen colors match perfectly and your brand is represented accurately and consistently on all your signage, including stand up banners and step and repeat banners.

The Variations Between On-Screen & Off-Screen Colors

The bottom line is that on-screen colors are different from the colors you see on printed materials. This is because the colors you see on screen are created by mixing different light shades. However, colors that are printed on paper or vinyl are made by mixing different pigments (or inks).

This means that 100% saturation of on-screen colors results in bright white, whereas 100% saturation of print colors results in dark black. With both on-screen and off-screen colors, one can use different formulas to create a variety of shades.

Color Specifications To Know

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a designer or a brand owner who’s looking to print vinyl posters for fabric banner stands—you need to know these four main specifications:

  • RGB and Hex for on-screen colors
  • CMYK and Spot for print colors

On-Screen Colors – RGB & Hex

  • RGB is the acronym for red, green, and blue. When you mix these three colors, you get maximum saturation of white paint.
  • Hex is the acronym for hexadecimal. It's a code that represents screen colors on the internet. It's a combination of six numbers or letters and begins with the symbol #.

Don't worry about the numbers too much; you don't have to memorize them. Just note down the RGB and hex value for each of your brand colors so that you can replicate them on any software.

Off-Screen/Print Colors – CMYK and Spot Colors

  • CMYK is the acronym for cyan, magenta, yellow and key. It’s a standard print color specification.
  • Spot color or PMS (Pantone Matching System) is another print color specification; however, it’s not used as much as the CMYK specification.

Some colors are difficult to replicate using the CMYK specification. For example, bright colors like fluorescent green and orange—as well as metallic hues—are challenging to print using CMYK. If you need these colors, you can consider the spot (PMS) specification. That said, using CMYK is more cost-effective than using spot colors.

That's it. So the next time you discuss colors with a designer or printer, remember these points to better convey your ideas and goals.

Key Takeaways

  • On-screen and off-screen colors are different in numerous ways.
  • On-screen colors are made by mixing lights, whereas print colors are made by mixing colored inks.
  • If you need accurate colors to represent your brand logo, make sure you know both on-screen and off-screen color specifications and formulas to get the colors you desire.