Images usually follow two different color schemes — RGB and CMYK. But the question remains, “Is RGB or CMYK better for print?”

RGB stands for red-green-blue. These are the primary colors of light and are used to represent all colors on a computer display.

As you probably know, the primary colors of pigment are red, yellow and blue. In printing, these hues are more precisely selected as magenta, yellow and cyan. With the addition of black, these are the four ink colors used in most printers. Together, they are abbreviated as CMYK for cyan-magenta-yellow-black.

Clearly, you’ll be using more than these four colors in your designs. Programs used for design assign codes to each custom color, which tells the printer what percentage of ink to use in each tiny section of a print.

When making your design digitally, keep in mind that what you see on your screen will not be quite as it appears after printing it. Be sure to go through a few test prints to make sure the color that shows up on paper accurately represents your vision.