Color Selections
January 8, 2007
When choosing corporate colors, a very important
consideration is how similar they may appear in the various
color spaces where the company will need to use them. Computers
and the web employ an RGB color model to display colors, while
print is commonly done in CMYK. Pantone, or "spot"
colors may be used in print when it is desirable to very tightly
control a color for accuracy, but use of spot colors is not
always possible and ads substantially to the cost -and perhaps
delivery time - of print production. On this chart, you can
view the proposed Pantone colors next to their CMYK and RGB
equivalents. I have also provided the Pilot colors in a similar
fashion for comparison. There are no colors that will appear
exactly the same in various color spaces, however a close approximation
is desirable. The swatches on this page display a very close
similarity one to another. It should also be noted that, as
these swatches are being displayed on the web, you are viewing
them in the RGB color space. That limitation means it is impossible
for you to see them exactly as they would be in print, but viewing
the swatches relative to one another is still a good way to
get an idea of how much variation you may expect.
