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I am working on a project for a client and got a logo from them in pdf & png format, but they are both rgb.

The logo is a bright blue and when I try to change it to cmyk for print the color changes.

I have tried in lots of different ways to maintain their color as much as possible, but with no luck. I need to send a CMYK pdf to the printer and the color of the logo is not the blue they want.

I have to keep the color because it is the brand and it is a big company. They have already said this is all they have and always use these so it should work.

in the photo you can see the differnce

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    Hi. Welcome to GDSE. Unfortunately, that colour is out of gamut for CMYK printing, which basically means it's unprintable.
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Feb 12, 2020 at 9:20

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You need to explain to your client that all colors on screen (RGB) can not be reproduced on paper with ink (CMYK). One is a subtractive color model the other additive.

There's no "magic" or "trick" to make an RGB color which is outside the CMYK gamut reproduce as the same color with ink on paper.

The only options are to find an acceptable CMYK color, or possibly use a spot color.

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  • Though it might be possible to get really bright color with super fancy inkjets or multi color digital printers. At least our inkjet nearly prints that color and the sublimation transfer on a aluminium board does that color. Not really economical though.
    – joojaa
    Commented Feb 13, 2020 at 20:31
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I have seen this many times recently, where many so called "oh i can use Figma and Sketch" designers produce these random, meaningless logos in RGB or with fonts not outlined (which gives errors on opening), or both. Then they deliver this to the client in PNG.

Because, you know, everybody's hates Adobe and their monthly plans, but luckily we have Figma and Sketch now to save the world from Adobe's 'evil domination'. Well, yeah, in a way..

The normal way to design a logo for people who actually open Illustrator once in a while, is to first set it up for print in CMYK and always assume the thing will get printed at some point in time, regardess of one's Figma skills.

That way, you first and foremost have a CMYK logo. Then, you convert that to RGB for web.

Your client can contact the initial designer to fix this, otherwise, if you need to do it, you need to somehow match the existing blue as close as possible and explain this process to the client (you will never ever get a 100% identical blue in CMYK).

And yes, logos are delivered separately (read: two separate, distinct files) in CMYK and RGB for this particular reason.

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  • I always design in CMYK first. That is what drives me crazy that they don't have a cmyk logo I will see what can be done. Thanks
    – user148623
    Commented Feb 12, 2020 at 9:26
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    Then, obviously the client needs to understand they have hired an RGB-first designer for that logo, and now the options are... so and so.
    – lmlmlm
    Commented Feb 12, 2020 at 9:29
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Few days back I was in similar situation. Here is what i found.

  1. open the pdf file in illustrator. I am hoping the file you have is vector.
  2. Select everything ( control + a or Cmd + a )
  3. Go to Objects > Flatten transparency
  4. Preset - High resolution, Raster /vector to vector ( refer the image enter image description here
  5. Press ok
  6. Voila! your rgb file is now CMYK
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    .. and colors will shift... this doesn't solve the issue.
    – Scott
    Commented Feb 19, 2020 at 11:41
  • when i tried, it didn't.
    – Jishnu Vediyoor
    Commented Feb 19, 2020 at 11:43
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    Depends upon the color.. but some bright RGB blues and purples have a very high probability of shifting. This is no different than merely switching to CMYK within Illustrator or Photoshop.. when converting from RGB to CMYK... colors can change.
    – Scott
    Commented Feb 19, 2020 at 11:45
  • oh i was not aware of that. thanks for the information. I will be more care full next time if i endup in such situation. - i hope i won't!
    – Jishnu Vediyoor
    Commented Feb 19, 2020 at 11:46

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