Expert: Candice Anderson - 8/16/2008

Question
I have designed my business card using RGB colours.  The transparency blend space in CMYK mode though.  

However my question is how do i get a lime green similar to my one in RGB format to CMYK?  I've seen the exact colour on other business cards and i just want to print mine!  Is it possible and how?  

Am i right in saying it has something to do with Pantone colours?

Thanks.

Answer
You're not going to get exaclty what you want when you work in RGB. CMYK has a limited color palette, thus it can't print what you see on screen. But, you can get close and yes, you're right about pantones :)

(assuming you don't have the pantone books)

make a square in indesign of your color. Click the make new color button on the swatches palette. Double click.
There will be a drop down menu that says rgb process or cmyk process (sorry, not looking at the program), choose that one.
Depending on what paper you will put it on will determine which pantone or pms colors, you choose. So, if you are doing a business card with no gloss to it, then you want pantone matte. Look through the colors they provide and choose the color that is closet to your lime green.

now, here's the fun part. If you are printing this at an place that does offset printing, then your fine. If you are printing at a place that does digital printing (like Kinkos), or your home printer, you'll need to do one more easy step.
after you pick the color you like, change it from a pantone to a cmyk process. Digital printers don't know what do with a pantone color.

an easy process that has a lot of explaining :)