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I'm creating a brand, and I used a color as the primary color.

When I went on to create a paper for print with that color, I copied the HEX value into Illustrator with CMYK mode and the color looks way off.

I know this is because of the difference in the color spectrum, and they can't be the same, but it looks too much different, it looks like other brand. Here's what I mean.

enter image description here

As you can see, the color gets converted to the second one, that looks more like Facebook than the color of my brand.

I'm aware of the color spaces and that some colors will look more different than other ones when used in CMYK.

My question is, will it look fine when I print it or will it look like the second one?

I have the following options:

  • Print it anyway, hope it looks OK
  • Use another CMYK color that looks more like mine
  • Change the color to one that looks more similar in CMYK.

I'm kind of newbie with print so any help would be appreciated, thanks!

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#3E67CE is out of gamut for CMYK printing.

When you were choosing the colour for your brand, you should have really chosen a CMYK colour, not an RGB colour. So that would be your best bet I think if you want them to look more similar. Some blues are particularly troublesome when converting from RGB to CMYK - in fact they are a total nightmare.

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  • Yeah I checked the color gamut and CMYK is way smaller than RGB and blues are not in favor. But I really want to keep that "electric vivid blue" though. What color would you recommend? I can't seem to find a nice vivid blue, any time I pick one Illustrator converts it to a dull CMYK.
    – nick
    Commented Jul 13, 2017 at 20:45
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    @nick Electric blues aren't really printable - sorry. It's an almost impossible ask. Perhaps choosing a spot Pantone Solid colour would be better, but that may increase your printing costs.
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Jul 13, 2017 at 20:46
  • Ok then, thanks for the help, I'll have to do some tests!
    – nick
    Commented Jul 13, 2017 at 20:51
  • @nick - probably best to talk to your printer, they will have a Pantone Solid colour guide you can check if you decide to go down that route, if you don't own one yourself. Good luck!
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Jul 13, 2017 at 20:55
  • @nick part of designing is actually ensuring you can do things your way. Its not especially elegant to limit your design to only onscreen mediums or expensive spot printing. There are limitations, being able to do things within the limitations is the hallmark of good design.
    – joojaa
    Commented Jul 13, 2017 at 21:15

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