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One of the most important choices that will affect the impact of your printed materials is the color. When working with a printer, you should be aware of the various types of color systems used.

RGB (red, green, blue) are the colors that computer monitors and televisions use. It is very common to use RGB-based colors when designing for the web, but if you're goal is to print with ink, RGB is less desirable because the colors may slightly change during the translation process. CMKY (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) are the printing inks used in a standard four-color process. This is a much more desirable format for printing since there is no translation process. Pantone colors are used when an exact color match is essential. You can find color books showing thousands of pantone colors and get an exact match when printing. This is much more accurate than using CMYK dots, but it can add considerable cost.