Some Colors' CMYK Numbers

[Joan Czaia]

Hi,
I've read through numerous posts about CMYK numbers, color mangaement, etc. (and was very helped last year by Ian Lyon's great info on it) but still have what I HOPE might be a simple query.

I design business cards which are printed in CMYK. I work in RGB, do CMYK previews often, then convert when done. My question is this: does anyone have a short list of just some basic colors most of us might perceive similarly (ie. royal blue, navy blue, forest green, fire engine red,teal--I know that's not too basic but really changes from monitor to press) and what their corresponding CMYK #'s are? I have kept a list of some that I have received the actual printed version of but don't have the sample cards for many of my printed designs (so don't know if my forest green really looked more blue than green but since the client didn't care will never know). I will probably be getting more of my samples but just wondered in the meantime if any of you have some standard numbers you start designing with so the red you choose doesn't turn orange, blue navy, teal grey and so on.
Thanks!
Joan

[Kathy White]

I usually use PMS 187(coated) for red, 356(uncoated) or 336(coated) for green, 1255(coated) or 871(metallic) for gold. 135(coated) is pretty good for yellow when it's printed in CMYK.

Blues are a bit harder, because when you use a spot color that looks realy good in blue, then print in CMYK, the blue looks washed out. Or so our printer says is the problem. We end up using the blue of our choice, maybe something like 287, then when we print in CMYK we add another layer of the blue 287 as a fifth color. It's more expensive because you need a press that handles at least 5 colors, but it looks better.

If that helps...

[Chris Cox]

The CMYK percentages needed to create various real-world colors will vary depending on the paper stock, inks, and press used.

[Joan Czaia]

Kathy thank you for those choices--it helps add some good ones, especially the red, green and blue.
Chris-didn't realize that, which only adds to the mystery of how it will actually look in print!
Thanks.

[sam m brown]

....Or if you have room on an existing print job and you usually use the same printer/paper/press etc you could run a band of selected colors down one side of the page and have them trimmed off - this would give you plenty of copies, to refer to - don't go leaving around uner lights as this will cause fading and render them useless, seen a few expensive pantone simulator/selectors ruined like this.