Close, but never identical. Screens glow in RGB and paper reflects in CMYK, so colours calm down a touch. We flag anything that’ll shift noticeably.
Send RGB if that’s what you have, and we’ll manage the conversion. For colour-critical work, choose a bright white silk or gloss and order a single proof copy first.
Close to your screen, never identical
We’ll be straight with you: printed colour comes close to what you see on screen, but it never matches exactly. That isn’t a fault in your file or in our printing. Screens and paper simply make colour in two different ways.
The good news is that the shift is predictable. Once you know why it happens and which colours move most, you can design for paper and get the closest result.
Why screens and paper show colour differently
A screen is a light box. It mixes colour from red, green and blue light (RGB) and shines it straight at your eyes, so everything looks bright and saturated.
Paper doesn’t glow. We print with four inks, cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK), and you see the colour by the light in the room bouncing off the ink. Reflected light can never be as bright as light shining at you, so colours calm down a touch.
Your screen adds its own twist. Its brightness, its settings and the display itself all change how a file looks, which is why one PDF can look different on your laptop and your phone. Print changes with the light you read it in, too.
A photo can look crisp on screen at 72 or 96 pixels per inch and still print soft. For print, images need around 300dpi at the size they appear. Our resolution answer explains more.
The colours that shift most
Most colours print very close to the screen. The ones that move are the brightest, most saturated shades, because a screen can show colours that four inks simply can’t mix.
- Bright greens lose a little of their zing.
- Vivid blues come out calmer.
- Bright oranges soften slightly.
- Neon and fluorescent shades shift the most: neon pink, for example, comes out softer.
We print in four-colour CMYK, which can’t reproduce fluorescent ink, so neon shades come out softer. On longer litho runs, ask us about Pantone spot colours.
Your paper changes the colour too
The same file looks different on different papers. Coated papers keep the ink on the surface, so colours stay crisp and punchy. Uncoated paper draws the ink in a little, which softens colours and darks.
Smooth, with a soft sheen. Our safe all-rounder, and one of our two most colour-accurate papers.
Shiny and reflective, for maximum punch on photos and bright colours.
Natural and matt. Softens colour and darks for a gentler look that’s lovely to touch.
Cream and recycled papers soften images a little more, so they suit text best. Our house papers are bright white, which gives the truest colour.
Paper is hard to judge on a screen, so we’ll post you a free sample pack, usually posted the same day. Every house paper comes printed with our test alphabet, so you can judge colour as well as feel. Our paper guide explains the choices.
How to get the closest result
- Design in CMYK where you canSet your document to CMYK, or convert before you export, so you see any shift on screen rather than on paper. If you only have RGB, send it anyway.
- Export as PDF/X-1aIt converts colour to CMYK and embeds your fonts in one go.
- Set black text to 100% black onlyThat’s 0/0/0/100, which keeps small type crisp.
- Use rich black for big black backgrounds30/30/30/100 prints deeper than black ink alone. Keep the total ink to about 280–300%.
- See it on paper before the full runOrder the free sample pack, or print a single copy first: there’s no minimum. A printed proof costs from £25 for a flat sheet, or about £44 stapled, £58–82 perfect bound and £120–180 hardback, at cost. It shows paper, binding and layout in your hands, though it isn’t colour-matched to the final run.
Check your file for RGB in Acrobat
Not sure whether your images are RGB or CMYK? Adobe Acrobat Pro will tell you in a minute. Preflight isn’t in the free Acrobat Reader.
- Open your print-ready PDF in Acrobat Pro.
- Go to Print Production, then Preflight.
- Choose the Sheetfed Offset (CMYK) profile and run it.
- Anything listed under ‘Object uses RGB’ needs converting to CMYK in your design software, then export the PDF again.
We’ll flag any RGB at your free file check anyway.
What we do with your file
A real person checks every file by hand, for free, before anything goes near a press. Colour is part of that check.
- We convert RGB to CMYK for you, so there’s no need to panic if you designed in RGB.
- We flag anything that’ll shift noticeably, like a bright green or a neon, before you print.
- We check your image resolution too, and tell you if any photos will look soft.
What we can’t do is make paper glow. If one colour really matters, such as a logo or a product shot, tell us when you send your file and we’ll talk it through.
Quick questions
Should I send RGB or CMYK?
CMYK if you can, as that’s what we print in. RGB is fine too: we manage the conversion and flag anything that’ll shift noticeably.
Why does my print look darker than my screen?
Your screen lights the image from behind. Paper can only reflect the light in the room, so it reads a touch darker and calmer. Uncoated paper softens darks a little more.
Will a printed proof match the final run exactly?
A proof shows you the paper, binding and layout in your hands, but it isn’t colour-matched to the final run.
Which paper gives the truest colour?
A bright white silk or gloss. Uncoated, cream and recycled papers soften colour a little, which can look lovely, just different.
See your colours on real paper first
Our free sample pack has every house paper printed with our test alphabet, so you can judge colour as well as feel. It’s free in the UK and usually goes out the same day.
