7 Color Printing Tips for Beginners

With so many online printing companies making full color printing much more affordable, most advertising designs for both small and large businesses alike contain color. Whether you plan to print posters or flyers, brochures or postcards, your printed materials will need be designed in color to compete with the big dogs. If you are a beginner, just make sure you follow these 7 tips below for the best color printing results possible.

Limit strong colors
Using too much of an overly saturated hue, such as a bright red, will irritate the eyes, making it more difficult for viewers to focus on your message. When you need to use large blocks of color, simply choose a dimmer hue.

Less is more
Don't go overboard with the amount of colors in your design. Limit yourself to two to four colors and use them consistently throughout your design, such as one color for the background, another for headlines and subheadings, another for body text, and the fourth for highlights.

Consider color placement
Colors can actually change appearance when placed next to other colors. Therefore, before deciding which color you want from the color palette on your design program, line it up next to the other colors you are planning to use for a more accurate shade.

Use a color wheel
When choosing your colors, it's best for beginners to use a color wheel. You can use the one in your design program or use one of the many available online. Complimentary colors, those that are exactly opposite each other on the color wheel, create contrast while also blending well. Therefore, for a 2 color design, simply choose 2 opposite colors; and for a 4 color design, choose two more opposite colors. A three color design uses a triangle within the color wheel for choosing colors that are fairly complimentary.

Go basic with text color
Colored text, especially on a colored background, can be very difficult to match up correctly. For best results, stick with black text on a white or light colored background. This will ensure optimum readability of your copy.

Full bleed
The term "full bleed" refers to extending your background colors and images beyond the edge of your design. Most printers require you to stretch the background well beyond .125" from the intended size. This makes your colors go all the way to the edges of your printed material for a professional look.

RGB vs. CMYK
Most design programs use the RGB color scheme (the primary colors of light) as their standard color palette, which works great when you are designing for the web. The only problem comes when you send your design to a professional printer, as they use the CMYK color scheme (the primary colors of ink) for printing. The best bet for receiving the colors you envisioned is to design with RGB colors and use a conversion calculator to convert to CMYK before sending your project to print. And don't make the mistake of designing in CMYK as the colors you see on screen will appear a different shade when printed.