CMYK vs RGB???

[Bianca]

I am designing my invites in Illustrator and their default is CMYK. I printed out a sample at work and the black text is made of dotted colors and not black toner/ink, so the fine lines don't look crisp. I made my STDs in Powerpoint and the black text printed fine. I believe that the Powerpoint files are RGB, so that is probably the answer to my question. I plan on printing at Kinko's or the equivalent...

 

Should I be making my invites in CMYK or RGB?

 

ETA--- My invites are basically 2 colors, black and green.

[rodent]

i think it depends on how you are printing them. a photolab prints RGB, but I'd think your invites would be printed CMYK. not sure why you had the issue with your printer. but, I beleive you want the color setting to match up with the printer. if the printer has CMYK colors of ink, pick that option.

[ikupoo]

It could be the issue of type- some "fancy" fonts are designed by amatures, and can be corrupted. Did you use the same typeface on your Save the dates?

 

To answer your question on RGB vs CMYK, I was taught to work with RGB first, and convert it to CMYK, since RGB has a lot more colors since it's made up of light, where as CMYK creates colors by combinng just 4 inks.

You may want to bring your file to professional printer as opposed to Kinko's, because majority of the time (from mine and other people's experiences), people at Kinko's don't know/care about printing.

[Bianca]

I'm using Brioso and Burgues Script. They aren't free fonts from dafont or something, so I don't think they are the problem. They both printed in the colored dots that make up the black. This is my first time using them. I plan on using the self service copiers. I just want my invites printed on a laser printer/copier and I already bought my paper for it which is too thick to print at home. I'm just going to make an RGB version and see if that fixes it.

[adias.angel]

You are completely right, you will want to make yours in RGB. Most printer then convert to CYMK for printing. Carla

[Bianca]

Quote:

Originally Posted by adias.angel You are completely right, you will want to make yours in RGB. Most printer then convert to CYMK for printing. Carla

Thats what I read while googling also. Thanks gals!

[ikupoo]

Also, don't forget to embed your type in Illustrator when you bring it to the print shop. You can do that under Type-outline type. It's also best to supply the printer with PDF of the file and the font files... so the printer will have visual guide.

[adias.angel]

One more thought that just came to me, could DPI be part of your problem? I know for great printing you should have your images at 300 DPI...

[Bianca]

The files are 300 DPI. I'll see how the RGB ones go...