The Truth About Neon Colours and Why They Just Don’t Print
You know how neon colours practically glow on screens? Whether you think it’s a good look or not is personal opinion… but, aesthetics aside, they grab attention, demand to be seen, and I guess they’re kiiiinda fun. But then you print them, and—poof—they’re suddenly dull, flat, and barely recognizable. What gives?
Well, the difference lies in the way RGB and CMYK work, and this is where things get interesting (and a little science-y, but not too science-y because, well… I’m not a science-me-tist). Let’s dive deeper into why neon colours struggle to make the leap from screen to print.
RGB: The Bright Light Maestro
First, let’s talk about RGB. This colour model is made up of red, green, and blue light, and it’s what digital screens like your phone, your computer and your TV use to create colour. When you’re working in RGB, you’re working with light itself. Think of the brightest, most vivid neon colour you’ve seen on your screen. The key is that RGB works additively. By increasing the intensity of red, green, and blue light, you can create super vibrant, almost glowing hues. Add them all together at full brightness, and you get white light.
Neon colours, particularly, shine in RGB because they’re composed of extremely high levels of brightness and saturation that are perfectly suited for light-based displays. Your eyes are essentially perceiving more light and energy, which tricks your brain into seeing those bright, almost fluorescent hues. Are you bored yet? Wow you really have run out of things to do haven’t you… let’s move on to CMYK.
CMYK: The Ink Rulebook
Now, enter CMYK: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, the standard for printing. CMYK works subtractively, meaning it starts with white (the colour of the paper) and removes brightness by layering inks. Adding cyan, magenta, and yellow inks together creates darker and darker colours until you get a muddy black (called Registration Black).
This is why CMYK can’t replicate the same vibrant neon colours that RGB does—it’s subtracting light rather than adding it.
So why can’t neon be printed? Neon colours exist outside of the CMYK colour gamut, which is essentially the range of colours the CMYK process can reproduce. It’s like trying to play a piano concerto on a ukulele — you’re working with a limited set of tools. Since CMYK is inherently less vibrant as it’s not made up of light, it simply can’t match the brilliance of neon colours, which rely on that extra brightness RGB provides.
Why Neon Colours Fall Flat in Print
The limitations of CMYK become painfully clear when dealing with neon. Neon colours are defined by their brightness, but brightness in RGB comes from light, and there’s no such thing as “light” in ink. CMYK inks absorb and reflect light from the paper, but they can’t emit the kind of vibrancy that neons need. Without a source of emitted light (like your screen), those electric greens, punchy pinks, and screaming yellows lose their magic.
Even if you try to print neon colours, they’ll appear muted or completely different from what you see on screen. For example:
- That vibrant RGB neon green might turn into a dull olive or grass green.
- Electric pink becomes more of a flat magenta.
- Eye-searing yellow turns into a soft mustard.
You’re also dealing with the colour of the paper stock when you work with CMYK print. So if you’re printing on a cream-toned paper, this is going to affect the final print result, as you’re essentially mixing that colour with the colours that are being laid down.
Ok, got that, now why can’t you print in white?
So we’ve covered above what CMYK print is made up from, Yellow, Cyan, Magenta and Black. Now, imagine you have those colours in paint.
Can you mix them to make white?
Nope. No matter what concentration of each of those colours you use, they will never, mix to make white. The higher the percentage of those colours you apply, to the paper, the darker they get.
In CMYK print, white is simply the absence of print. It’s the colour of your paper / card stock.
But I’ve seen things with white print on before? Why are you lying to me?
I’m not, I promise. Yes you’ve seen white print before, but it’s not CMYK print. It requires specialist white toner or adapted printers, and is not currently something we offer. But the good news is it is something we’re hoping to provide in the near future, so do check back often!
