Choosing the correct color format is a critical step in the creative process. The first thing you need to determine is whether your project will be printed or appear on screen-based devices (computer monitors, televisions, mobile phones).

Print

Printed materials are produced by one or more inks on paper or another medium.

PMS (Pantone Matching System) inks are typically used when a project requires only one, two, or three colors and will be produced by a professional print house. The Nazareth color palette identifies both PMS C (coated paper) and U (uncoated paper) values. Check with your marketing department contact or print house representative if you're not sure what type of paper will be used.

The other format for printed materials is 4-color process, commonly referred to as CMYK (Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black). Projects requiring more than three colors or those printed on a standard desktop or office printer should be created in this format. Also, make sure to convert all photography for print into CMYK.

Screen

Screen-based color is rendered by pixels in RGB (Red-Green-Blue) color mode and identified by a hexadecimal number. For example, the number for white is FFFFFF, while black is 000000.

Content (photos, graphics, text, etc.) intended for websites, emails, PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, or videos should be created in RGB format.

For More Information

If you have additional questions about the Nazareth color palette or color formats, contact:

Brian Abbamonte
Print and Web Production Designer
babbamo7@naz.edu or 585-389-2462