Official Color Pallet

Using the correct colors when reproducing the CCS Brand and Marks is an essential part of communicating the values and identity of our community. Please make sure you select or specify the appropriate colors in print, merchandise and online.

	PRIMARY	ACCENT	PRIMARY	ACCENT	ACCENT	PRIMARY
	CCS Red	Dark Red	CCS Gray	Light Gray	Dark Gray	Black
PMS	200	7427	Cool Gray 5	Cool Gray 3	Cool Gray 9	Black
CMYK	18,100,83,8	26,100,82,24	31,24,25,0	20,16,18,0	56,47,44,11	0,0,0,100
RGB	190,15,52	157,16,45	179,179,179	202,202,200	118,118,121	0,0,0
WEB	CC0033	990033	999999	CCCCCC	666666	000000
THREAD	Madeira 1747	Madeira 1638	Madeira 1811	Madeira 1810	Madeira 1640	Madeira 1000

Pink is NOT the new Red

CCS Red and Dark Red are NOT to be used less than 100% fill, screened back, or in gradients with other colors.

50% Fill	Screened	Linear Gradient

IDK, RGB or CMYK

When preparing artwork or images it is important to use the color system that is native for the way the image will be displayed or reproduced. There are two ways to digitally specify color.

CMYK is primarily used for printing inks or toner onto paper. CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (black). Each color is one of the inks used in four color process printing. Each color has a value from 0 to 100% denoted how much of the allowed space is covered with that ink color. CMYK is a “subtractive” color system so the higher the number the darker the color with 100,100,100,100 being saturated black (putting more ink on the page keeps more light from being reflected, with each color absorbing a certain wavelength, so 100% of all inks absorbs all light and produces black) and 0,0,0,0 being white (no ink means the white paper is reflecting all the light.) There are 101 values of the 4 different inks, so 101 x 101 x 101 x 101 = 104,060,401 colors that can be distinctly defined.

RGB is primarily used for display on a computer screen or projector. RGB stands for Red, Green, Blue. Each color is a wavelength of light with a value between 0 and 255 denoting how bright the light is. RGB is an “additive” color system based on light (it is used in web, video and tv) so the higher the numbers the brighter the color with 255,255,255 being white (adding red, blue and green light makes white light) and 0,0,0 being black (black is the absence of light, which is kind of a spiritual thing too.)There are 256 values of the 3 different wavelengths, so 256 x 256 x 256 = 16,777,216 colors that can be distinctly defined.It is easy then to see that moving from a color system with over 100 million colors to a system with less than 17 million means that 6 distinct colors in CMYK all get converted to 1 color in RGB.

The rub comes when you try to represent something in an subtractive system that was designed in an additive system. In photoshop try picking a color and type in 0,0,0 in the RGB selection. You will see the conversion to CMYK as 75,68,67,90. Likewise if you enter 100,100,100,100 in the CMYK selection it converts to 3,0,0 in RGB. Obviously there are differences.

There are also problems going from RGB to CMYK, but the chance for color shift is lower and mostly minor.