RGB color convert to CMYK

Graphic Design
1

My RGB color looks very wrong when I use it as CMYK. How can I “convert” the color properly?

2

need more info - which program?

3

I created a branding with bright blue and neon green in Illustrator. Now I am working on a brochure in Indesign which will be printed. The colors look horrible.

4

yeh i find i get issues with illustrator rgb images with certain effects or as you say neon colors b/c they cant be replicated well in cmyk. at which stage do colors look horrible?

  1. just placing the rgb file in InDesign?
  2. exporting as pdf from InDesign?
  3. converting rgb to cmyk in llustrator?
  4. you printed the pdf from indesign?
5

in indesign swatches, you can click on the colors you want to switch out to cmyk(or the opposite way) right click, and then on the dropdown arrow on top switch it to cmyk.

6

Following

@rivkah what’s there to do for #3? When I convert to CMYK in Illustrator, the colors are really blah

7

my real answer is i dont know myself - in the past if it was a stock vector, i would usually reject it if it doesn’t convert well to cmyk and find an alternative graphic that converts better!

from googling apparently you cant print neon unless you supplement with special inks.

if it’s a simpler design, you could manually change the colors to what is the best that is still allowed as cmyk (like this https://logosbynick.com/convert-rgb-to-cmyk-with-illustrator/).

otherwise i would try bringing it in to indesign and from there export pdf with the default color conversion of indesign (in output tab of export to pdf) and see if it gives a better result.

or photoshop may give better results.

8

Even if you manange to make it look good on screen, it won’t print nicely. I ended up adjusting the colors all the way. I had no choice.

9

you mean manually adjusting each color?

10

yup. i was working with 2 colors, so it wasnt too bad

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