3.3 Colour systems: printing

CMYK ink
Figure 3.27 Printing machine with CMYK colour. Image by Magnascan via Pixabay, licensed under CC0.

Colour printing requires a range of different methods for printing all kinds of imagery onto different kinds of materials. This includes photographic imagery, artwork, publications, and graphic, industrial, fashion, and textile design products.

Understanding how subtractive colour systems work, how inks, pigments and materials behave in printing processes, and how to achieve effects like metallic and fluorescent colours or gloss and embossed finishes requires special skill and expertise.

This section is a short introduction to how colour works in printing – from digital media to a physical product.

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Colour Theory: Understanding and Working with Colour Copyright © 2023 by RMIT University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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