---
title: The ultimate guide to CMYK | Oppaca
description: What is CMYK and why it is used in the printing industry
---

[Oppaca Blog ](https://www.oppaca.com/en/blog)

# [The ultimate guide to CMYK | Oppaca](https://www.oppaca.com/en/blog/font-color/what-cmyk-what-it-used-printing-industry)

 Written by [Federica Artuffo](https://www.oppaca.com/en/blog/author/federica-artuffo) | Nov 18, 2019 11:00:00 PM

### Let’s finally find out the real meaning of it.

**CMYK** is a scheme for combining primary pigments.  
The C stands for **Cyan**, M stands for **Magenta**, Y for **Yellow**, and K for** Key**. The **key color **in today's **printing **world is **black **but it has not always been. During the early days of **printing**, the colors used for Key have been brown, blue, or black whichever was the cheapest ink to acquire at any given time. Technically, adding equal amounts of pure cyan, magenta, and yellow should produce black. However, because of impurities in the inks, true black is difficult to create by blending the colors together. This is why black (K) ink is typically included with the three other colors. The letter "K" is used also to avoid confusion with blue in **RGB **  
(For more infos about **RGB, **go check our article ["What is RGB? What it is used for?”](https://www.labelado.com/en/blog/2019/11/26/what-rgb-what-it-used/) on Oppaca blog).  
Basically **CMYK **are the four basic colors used for **printing color images**. 

### **Which are the main features of CMYK color model?**

**CMYK **colors are "**subtractive**". This means the colors get darker as you blend them together.  
The **CMYK **pigment model works like an "upside-down"version of the **RGB **(red, green, and blue) color model.  
The primary colors RGB, combined at 100-percent brilliance, produce white. The primary pigments CMY instead, combined at maximum concentration, produce black.  
**CMYK **color has a wider range of colors though is limited compared to the RGB color profile.

### **So why don’t we use RGB color values to print colored images? We’ll show you some good reasons.**

 

While there are a select number of rare printers that use **RGB**, there are a multitude of practical reasons **CMYK printing **will be the dominant model for a long time. To understand why printers generally don’t use RGB, we have to understand a few things. On a monitor or projector, combining RGB colored light creates lighter colors great if you have a dark screen.  
However, on print materials, colors are produced differently from how they are made on a computer monitor. Layering RGB inks on top of or close to each other produces darker colors because inks can only absorb and reflect different colors in the light spectrum, not emit them. RGB colors are already dark to begin with. This makes it difficult to produce lighter colors such as yellow or lime green as adding RGB colors will invariably result in much darker hues.

### **Why we need to use CMYK model for our labels?**

Using a **CMY **color model provides a workaround for this problem as cyan, magenta, and yellow are lighter than red, green, and blue. **CMY **will be able to cover most lighter color ranges quite easily, compared to using RGB. However, while **CMY **by itself will not be able to create very deep dark colors or a “true black,” so **black **(designated “K” for “key color”) is added to **CMY **so a much wider range of colors can be achieved compared to just RGB.  
If we look at a micro-level, **CMYK **inks are applied in set patterns of tiny dots that appear to create a solid color in a way similar to the pixels on a digital image.

Layers of these dots in different amounts of ink create any shade or color.  
This process is called **half-toning**.   
These **patterns **are placed into the shape of a screen, 1 for each component (**CMYK**). Each **screen **has a different **angle**.  
These different angles are used to avoid some printing difficulties such as **Moiré **and increase **print quality**.

After explaining to you all the main features of **CMYK model **in the **printing process**, let’s give you some advices to create the perfect **printing file**.

### **So what is our advice for you to create the perfect file before printing?**

In general, the **RGB **mode should be used when preparing graphics intended mainly for viewing on **computer displays**.  
The **CMYK **mode should be used when creating illustrations for **print media**. 

Having understood this feature, we really recommend starting your project in **CMYK **or at least converting from **RGB **before you send it in for printing for a few reasons. The apparent color change from **RGB **to **CMYK **can be dramatic in many cases, such as when your artwork has a lot of bright red in it. If you desire the best possible color accuracy on your final prints, you will want to consistently set the **color models **for your design files before submission.

### **Obviously, the Oppaca staff will keep an eye on the right reproduction of colors on your label.**

 

##### If you need answers about **CMYK **and its application in the **printing industry **or you want to learn more about a particular topic, write us with this form, and a member of the **Oppaca **staff will respond as soon as possible.

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