The old CMYK colours are dull question.

[Jay_...@adobeforums.com]

I understand the diffrence between CMYK and RGB but...

My colours look dull on screen in CMYK - what if I want to send something to a client? I can't send a PDF off for approval with all dull looking colours even if the final print will look brighter?

What am I missing?

[christoph_pf...@adobeforums.com]

If You are convinced the print will look significantly different than previewed on screen, the ICC-profile would have to be either badly done or wrong for the actual print process.
Which profile do You use and what are the print-conditions?

[christoph_pf...@adobeforums.com]

Have You assigned the same profile as used in separation to the pdf (in Acrobat if necessary)?

[Unknown]

What application are you using to view?
If the client is not in involved in the printing process and will only see the proof on screen, send the proof in RGB.

[Buko]

Also if your monitor is not profiled correctly what makes you think that your clients will be?

[Jeff_...@adobeforums.com]

I understand the diffrence between CMYK and RGB but...

No, I don't think you do...and what you are seeing when you convert to CMYK is a reasonable representation of what the color _WILL_ look like when printed. So, if you really DID understand the differences between RGB & CMYK, the result you see on screen shouldn't surprise you. The halftone reproduction process uses inks whose colorants are far, far short of pure spectral properties and as a result, the colors will always be dull in CMYK when compared to the RGB originals. That's a fact of life (and physics).

[Neil_...@adobeforums.com]

I've had to "fool" my client sometimes when preparing PDF layout presentations. Some clients complain about how dull CMYK art looks, and me explaining why doesn't work.

So I make them happy by sending the PDFs as RGB. They're happy with the sparkling colors -- and (for whatever reason) they just don't complain about the final CMYK results when they see them in print. Go figure!

A parenthetical point is that when they go to print out CMYK art, they are sending it to their desktop printers that are expecting RGB.

Neil

[Ann_She...@adobeforums.com]

I actually belt-and- braces this situation:

I will send them a PDF by e-mail for preliminary approval but will then take them a "Proof" print of the CMYK file using "Simulate Paper Color" so that they will understand how their job will actually look when printed on a Press.

The last thing that you need is an unhappy client holding a tear-sheet next to his computer screen and asking where his colors went!

[barke...@adobeforums.com]

If you're using cmyk it's because it's a job for print.
If your pdf's are going to be viewed on screen then stick to RGB
If your pdf's are going to be printed out on a desktop printer for presentation then I would still stick with RGB if there is any danger that they will be compared with the screen image.
If you are more concerned with getting a close representation to the printed job, then convert to cmyk.
Comparing screen images with printed images is always going to make the printed version seem dull, even if you're talking about 100% yellow. And that's the perfect excuse to use RGB in an on screen presentation to give the client the sparkling colours they usual like to see.

[Lundb...@adobeforums.com]

Yes, that is a dull question.