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Graphics
Graphics
Color Modes
Graphics
are a big part of graphics design, some would say the most important!
Understanding why some print well and why some don't is important information
to have. This section will help you understand them. Want
the whole story? Try
reading our graphics overview!
In-Depth
on Bit Depth
 A "bit"
in computer language refers to the smallest amount of information that
a computer can understand. It is an electronic pulse that contains one
of two characters. It contains either a 1 or a 0 and can either signal
on or off. Bit depth refers to the number of bits found in a graphics
file or that can be displayed on a monitor. Pixels,
which make up a monitor's screen...read
more
What
Is Bitmap Color Mode?
A
bitmap image, or line art, is one that is made up of either black or white
pixels. There are no colors and there are no gray tones whatsoever (for
drawings or artwork with gray tones, see grayscale).
This kind of image has a 1-bit
depth. When we think of bitmap images, we most commonly think of...read
more
What
Is Grayscale? Is It a Color Mode?
Grayscale
is a color mode made up of 256 shades of gray. These 256 colors include
absolute black, absolute white and 254 shades of gray in-between. Images
in grayscale mode have 8-bits
of information in them or, for the mathematically inclined, 2 to the 8th
power. Black and white  photographic
images are the most common examples of the grayscale color mode....read
more
What
Is RGB Color?
RGB
stands for the colors Red, Green and Blue. While CMYK
are the colors used for full-color printing, RGB are the colors that monitors
and televisions use to show colors. The mechanisms in monitors and televisions
project beams of light to fill every pixel
on your screen. RGB is an additive system which means that when you add
the three colors together, you get...read
more
What
Is CMYK Color?
CMYK
refers to the printing inks used in four-color process printing. Cyan,
Magenta, Yellow and Black are the colors used to
produce full-color photographs and designs. (An approximate representation
of these colors is below.) These colors can be combined and printed to
emulate a wide number of other colors. If you look carefully at a printed
color photograph in any magazine or book, you'll see that it's made up
of rows of tiny dots called a halftone
screen. The dots work together, at different angles, to fool...read
more
What
Is Index Color Mode?
Index
color is a product of the Internet revolution and is kind of a strange
animal. If a graphic image has been saved in this color mode then it can
contain up to 256 colors and has 8-bit
depth. That may sound like a lot but, when you consider that an RGB
image has 16 million colors, 256 doesn't sound like much. The objective
in web graphics is to reduce file size as much as possible while not...read
more
What
Is Spot PMS Color?
If
a designer needs to match a particular color (a logo color perhaps) in
a printed piece or has a limited budget, then spot color is something
to consider. Spot colors can also be used alongside process (CMYK)
colors for greater flexibility. To ensure that a printer uses exactly
the color that a designer intends, color systems were developed. The most
common of the spot color standards is...read
more
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