New logo guidelines and web design elements posted

chasd at silveroaks.com chasd at silveroaks.com
Sat May 27 16:06:37 UTC 2006


> Indeed the problem with CMYK in Inkscape seems to be that as the format
> does not support other color schemes than RGBA. Which ends up in the
> problems with CMYK and HSL, as the program will dynamicall convert
> between RGBA and CMYK/HSL as you move the handlers. So the problem is a
> format problem and not a program problem, per se...

If there was a standard way to map from one color space to another that 
all programs could use, then it isn't a program problem either. Wait, 
there is a standard way to do that ( color management using ICC 
profiles ). However, as I mentioned in a previous post, there are 
problems with that solution.

> Which pretty much
> ties our hands to proprietary software and formats.

No, as I mentioned in a previous post, EPS has wonderful support for 
CMYK. It is not a proprietary format, the specification is open. 
Several programs read and/or write EPS. This is why I recommended 
supplying different formats specific to the end use instead of just one 
format that essentially only covers one use case.

There are Linux graphics tools that will deal with EPS ( Inkscape can 
export ). However because at my job I do not use Linux-based graphics 
tools very often, I can't rattle off all the programs and how well they 
support EPS.

PDF could work too, many layout programs can use PDF interchangeably 
with EPS. It must be a _vector_ format, not a pixel format like PNG, 
TIFF, or JPEG.

> Reading through some file format specifications from the W3C (the png
> spec[1], for instance) says that the CMYK color space is too
> device-dependent to be useful as portable image representation... I
> don't fully understand this. I thought RGBA was the one
> device-dependant, which had a great deal of variation from device to
> device...

This is true of _any_ device color space.
I personally think there is greater variation in RGB color than CMYK ( 
even if the PNG spec writers think the opposite ). Any time you adjust 
the brightness, contrast, or any other setting on your monitor, you are 
actually changing the colormetric value of all the colors displayed. 
Beyond the capabilities of each monitor to display a given color, each 
end users' adjustment of that monitor changes the color too. That is a 
circus of variety.

As a further example, the color space of standard def NTSC television 
signals is different from the color space for HD television. That means 
the RGB values of a graphic will appear different when shown in 
standard def verses high def, unless you take precautions to keep the 
color consistent.

> This whole thing confuses the heck out o me, as I'm only an
> amateur with this stuff

Um, believe me, a lot of professionally trained designers are confused 
too. Good designers are aware of the issues and problems associated 
with reproducing a specific color on different devices, and work hard 
to make sure the colors in an identity are consistent across all media 
- web, print, TV, even ads on the side of a bus.

> (who would have thought that pretty graphics
> were filled with bureaucracy and XYZ standards?)

Well, me ;)

> Anyway, that's the
> state of things, and if I want to play in this field, I have to abide 
> by
> these rules...
>
> [1]http://www.w3.org/TR/PNG-Rationale.html

It would be better to look at this site-
<http://www.color.org/>

Charles Dostale




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