Learn about color models and color spaces to choose the right colors for your artwork.
Color models define how creative apps, tools, devices, and workflows represent colors. They provide a consistent way to define colors, so your artwork appears accurate across different platforms. A color space is a specific variation of a color model that defines a particular range of colors, or gamut. For example, the RGB color model includes color spaces such as Adobe RGB, sRGB, and Apple® RGB.
Colors in digital graphics
Color models describe how you see and work with colors in digital graphics. Each model, such as RGB, CMYK, or HSB, defines and organizes color differently. These models use numeric values to represent colors within the visible spectrum.
Different devices, such as monitors and printers, use different color spaces, each with its own gamut. As a result, some colors visible on a monitor may not be reproducible by a printer. Any color that a device cannot reproduce falls outside its color space and is considered out of gamut.
When you move an image from one device to another, its colors may change because each device interprets RGB or CMYK values according to its own color space. For example, a monitor uses an RGB color space, while a printer uses a CMYK color space, and their gamuts differ. As a result, some colors visible on a monitor cannot be reproduced in print, and some printed colors cannot be displayed on a monitor.
If your workflow requires transferring documents between devices, use a color management system (CMS) to maintain consistent and accurate color throughout the process.
RGB, CMYK, HSB, Lab, and Grayscale color models
RGB
The RGB color model reproduces a large portion of the visible spectrum by mixing red, green, and blue light at different intensities. When these colors overlap, they create cyan, magenta, and yellow.
RGB is an additive color model because combining red, green, and blue light at full intensity produces white. Additive colors are used in lighting, television displays, and computer monitors. For example, a monitor generates color by emitting light through red, green, and blue pixels.
In RGB mode, each of the three components ranges from 0 (black) to 255 (white). For example, a bright red may have values of R: 246, G: 20, and B: 50. When all three values are equal, the result is a shade of gray. When all components are set to 255, the color is pure white; when all are set to 0, the color is pure black.
Apps like Adobe Illustrator offer a modified RGB mode called Web Safe RGB, including RGB colors that display consistently on the web.
CMYK
The CMYK model is based on the light-absorbing properties of ink on paper. When white light passes through translucent inks, the inks absorb part of the spectrum and reflect the remaining colors.
CMYK is a subtractive color model because cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) pigments theoretically produce black by absorbing or subtracting all colors. In practice, printers add black (K) ink to improve shadow depth and detail. This method of combining inks to reproduce color is called four-color process printing.
In CMYK mode, each CMYK process ink can use a value from 0% to 100%. Lighter colors use lower percentages of process inks while darker colors use higher percentages. For example, a bright red might contain 2% cyan, 93% magenta, 90% yellow, and 0% black. In CMYK objects, lower ink values are closer to white, and higher values are closer to black.
Use CMYK when preparing a document for printing with process inks.
HSB
Based on human perception of color, the HSB model describes three fundamental characteristics:
Hue is the color reflected from or transmitted through an object. It's measured as a position on the standard color wheel and expressed as an angle from 0° to 360°. In simple terms, hue is the name of the color, such as red, orange, or green.
Saturation is the strength or purity of a color (also called chroma). It indicates the amount of gray is mixed with the hue and is measured as a percentage from 0% (gray) to 100% (fully saturated). On the standard color wheel, saturation increases as you move from the center toward the outer edge.
Brightness is the relative lightness or darkness of a color. it's measured as a percentage from 0% (black) to 100% (white).
Lab
The Commission Internationale d’Eclairage (CIE) Lab color model is based on human color perception. Its numeric values represent the full range of colors visible to the human eye. Lab is a device-independent color model, meaning it describes how a color appears rather than how it's produced. It doesn’t rely on a specific device, such as a monitor, printer, or camera. Color management systems use Lab as a reference to convert colors between color spaces.
Design apps like Adobe Illustrator let you use the Lab model to create, display, and output spot-color swatches. However, you cannot create documents in Lab mode.
Grayscale
Grayscale uses shades of black to represent an object. Every grayscale object has a brightness value ranging from 0% (white) to 100% (black). Images produced using black-and-white or grayscale scanners are typically displayed in grayscale.
Grayscale also lets you convert color artwork to high-quality black-and-white. In this process, Adobe Illustrator removes all color information from the original artwork, and the resulting gray levels (shades) reflect the original objects’ luminosity.
When you convert grayscale objects to RGB, the system assigns each object’s color values based on its previous gray value. You can also convert a grayscale object to a CMYK.
