Shop Talk

To put it simply, CMYK is for Print, and RGB is for Digital pieces.

CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black — the four traditional ink colors that are mixed to create most full-color printed pieces (such as print ads, brochures, signage, etc.).

RGB stands for Red, Green, Blue — the light frequencies that are combined to produce the visual aspect of digital pieces (such as websites, PowerPoint presentations, non-printing PDFs, videos, etc.).

HEX colors (short for hexadecimal) are used by designers and developers in web design. A HEX color is an RGB color, but expressed as a six-digit combination of numbers. For example, Rev One orange can be named as RGB 240-83-35 or HEX #f05323, but they are both the same RGB color.

In addition to CMYK inks, Pantone colors can also be used for print. Also known as PMS colors (Pantone Matching System), these are premixed special colors which are often printed in addition to CMYK on a piece. Pantones are often especially rich colors, neon colors, or metallic colors which cannot be achieved by mixing traditional Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black inks.

Pantone inks are also good for maintaining color consistency from one print vendor to another. Say you have a special red in your company logo, and you want that red to look the same no matter where it’s printed. Choosing a Pantone for that color will be the best way to ensure consistency of your brand.

Fonts can be categorized in many different ways, but the most common broad groups are Serif and Sans Serif. Here are examples of both:

This Sans Serif font has no decorative strokes that finish off the ends of letter stems.

Historically in print, Serif fonts have been more commonly used in body text as serifs guide the eyes across the paper while reading. Sans Serif fonts have been used mainly for headlines and larger display text. With the advent of the internet, sans serif fonts were favored; but with improved screen quality, both serif and sans serif fonts are acceptable.

Of course there are many other font categories such as Script, Handwritten, Rounded, Outlined, Dingbats, and so on. Some fonts can be put into multiple categories, and some would be difficult to categorize at all.

As far as terminology goes, very often “font” and “typeface” are used interchangeably. However, technically there’s a difference:

Helvetica is a typeface. (In this case “Helvetica” is the font family name.)
Helvetica Regular, Helvetica Light, Helvetica Bold Condensed Oblique, etcetera, are fonts.

Typically, most graphic files created in Adobe Illustrator are going to be Vector-based, while most Adobe Photoshop files will be Pixel-based. (See the “Graphic File Formats” section.) Vector graphics are made up of points, lines, curves, and shapes that are based on mathematical formulas. Thus, if a piece of art is purely vector, it can be blown up as large as you want without losing any quality at all. If it’s pixel-based, blowing it up too large may produce a blurry or “pixelated” image.

For digital graphics that are intended to be printed, the standard resolution is 300ppi, or pixels per inch. (The term dpi — or dots per inch — describes the resolution on an actual printed piece.) For most printed pieces, a file of at least 300ppi would be considered “high-res” or “high-resolution.” Of course, the image would also need to be at the minimum dimensions that you’d like it to print. If unsure, ask one of the experts at Rev One Design.

For graphics that are intended to remain in a digital form, the minimum resolution should be 72ppi. Images with this low of a resolution are usually just fine for websites and PowerPoint presentations as these are most commonly viewed on computer screens which are usually only 72ppi themselves. For pieces that are intended to only print on Office Printers or Home Printers, usually 150ppi is just fine.

Bleed is printing that goes beyond the edge of where the sheet will be trimmed, or cut off. This gives the printer a small amount of space to account for movement of the paper. Typical safety bleed for medium to small printed pieces is 1/8”, but can be more for very large pieces like wall graphics.

A “packaged” file is one that includes the source file (usually in Adobe InDesign or Adobe Illustrator) as well as any linked graphics and fonts. The entire package is often referred to as the “native files.” A graphic design agency will usually need these packaged files in order to make revisions to your documents and eventually send them to print. Although high-res PDFs are often sufficient for printing documents and sometimes sufficient for revising them, PDFs don’t always contain high-res images and will usually make editing copy difficult.

The three most-used graphic design applications are Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop, and here is what they are typically used for:

InDesign is a desktop publishing software application for creating flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers, and books. Projects created in InDesign can be shared in both digital and print formats. InDesign file name extensions include .indd and .idml.

Illustrator is a design application in which one can use shapes, color, effects, and typography to create logos, infographics, complex illustrations, and so much more. Although Illustrator can also create multipage documents, InDesign is much better suited and has a lot more features and flexibility. Results of work in Illustrator can be used for print, web and apps, video and animations, and beyond. Illustrator file name extensions include .ai, .eps, .pdf, .ait (Adobe Illustrator Template), .svg, and .svgz.

Photoshop is a raster graphics software which has become the industry standard in raster graphics editing and in digital art as a whole. Some of the most popular extensions for the files Photoshop can save out are .psd, .jpg, .png, .tiff, .gif, .bmp, and .eps.

The “About” screens seen upon launching Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop.

Here’s an alphabetical list of some of the most common graphic file formats:

Also referred to as a Style Guide, Brand Standards, or a Brand Book, Brand Guidelines are a set of rules that outline and explain your brand or company’s image. Brand Guidelines can vary greatly from one-pagers to multipage documents which can show official logos, colors, fonts, photography usage, taglines and mottos, and even writing styles. Some Brand Guidelines are very strict about how their company’s artwork is used, whereas others claim to be merely suggestions.

#1. What Colors Invoke
Color meanings stem from psychological effects, biological conditioning, and cultural developments. Color choice can invoke specific emotions which is important in graphic design since feelings are often much more powerful than rational thoughts. Here is a list of common colors and the feelings and themes they are often used to represent.