With the ushering in of the digital revolution, not many fields of endeavor have changed as much as the graphic design field.
Pen and paper are no more. They’ve been replaced by such programs as Illustrator and Freehand, meaning that rooms filled with stat cameras and developing solution have been replaced by programs that can run on a small computer that require no chemicals.
The change has affected professional graphic designers immensely because working with a mouse, fingertip or stylus requires a major change in the way their minds work. But our designers have successfully made the transition, as have most of our colleagues and competitors.
What’s tougher is making the change from four colors to three. Printing and graphics lived in a comfortable four-color world for years, i.e. CMYK - cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black). These colors are referred to as four-color process. CMYK is a subtractive color model.
A subtractive color model explains the mixing of a limited set of dyes, inks, paint pigments or natural colorants to create a wider range of colors, each the result of partially or completely subtracting (that is, absorbing) some wavelengths of light and not others. The color that a surface displays depends on which parts of the visible spectrum are not absorbed and therefore remain visible.
Subtractive color systems start with light, presumably white light. Colored inks, paints, or filters between the watchers and the light source or reflective surface subtract wavelengths from the light, giving it color. If the incident light is other than white, our visual mechanisms are able to compensate well, but not perfectly, often giving a flawed impression of the "true" color of the surface.
