: Color conversion, RGB to CMYK, different values in Photoshop I'm trying to enter the color #00ADE3, using Adobe Kuler and ColorHexa and another website; when I enter my color #00ADE3 I get the

@Caterina889

You're really just asking why every site uses a different RGB to CMYK converter... there's no answer to that. They are all coded differently and use their own algorithms.

As I've posted.. if you need CMYK, stop using HEX and RGB to determine CMYK color.

It's like asking..... how come every time I buy apples at the store they are different?

Because different stores carry different breeds. If you want HoneyCrisp apples, you buy HoneyCrisp apples. You don't buy Fuji apples, which look remarkably similar, expecting them to taste just like HoneyCrisp apples. Just as you don't specify RGB (HEX) colors expecting them to always look like CMYK colors.



Anecdotal....

I recently was working on a project for a company and the company sent me their brand guidelines PDF. The guidelines contains color breakouts based on HEX values. It provided the Hex # then the RGB breakout then a Pantone equivalent.

One color was #fefe22 :



Because HEX is RGB, the RGB breakout of 254,254,34 was correct. Same color.

But the Pantone specified 388:



Not even close.

So I asked how on Earth could someone, with the wherewithal to create brand guideline, specify such a horrible Pantone color?

The answer.. they used software rather than actually looking at a Pantone color guide. Because, if you set the color picker to fefe22, then click the Color Libraries button, there's a good chance the picker tell you.. Pantone 380-395 depending upon which Pantone book you use. All relatively more green or orange than the actual yellow. All because the picker is guessing at the closest possible value in the different color model.



It's all too easy to think software is infallible and always correct. That's just not true, especially where aesthetic matters like color is concerned. Software just uses a direct math conversion... and theres no telling what that actual math may be under the hood. It may be accurate 90% of the time. But it's rare that it is 100% accurate in all instances.

The crux of this is.. if you need an accurate CMYK color, you need to look at a color guide, not use some digital conversion method based on RGB colors.

Or, if you are adamant about using RGB to pick your CMYK colors, always use the same conversion tool. So the same math is used for all conversions.

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