Curated process colour
903 four-colour builds in 129 hue families, each one a seven-step run from full strength down to its palest tint. Pick a build here, check it against the printed reference card, and we use the same numbers on press.
A screen makes colour with light. Paper only has four inks and whatever the sheet soaks up. Builds picked by eye in a design tool often use four inks where two would do, land on a tint that drops out on uncoated stock, or make a black that prints as muddy grey. These builds are set to avoid all three.
The Curated CMYK reference card comes in every Studio Sample Kit.
- 903 builds · 129 families
- Coated and uncoated previews
- A printed card in every sample kit
Previews simulate a standard coated or uncoated sheet. A screen can't show ink exactly; the printed card can.
Browse by colour family
Cyans
42 builds
The one hue process printing owns outright. A cyan-led build needs no other ink to reach full strength, which is why it holds its cleanliness at every tint step.
6 tonal runs
Blues
105 builds
The builds most often specified badly. A blue made of heavy cyan and heavy magenta goes purple on press and muddy on uncoated; ours keep the magenta honest.
15 tonal runs
Teals
56 builds
Cyan with a measured yellow. Two-ink builds, so they stay in register and hold their tints without the grey cast a four-colour teal picks up.
8 tonal runs
Greens
196 builds
Cyan plus yellow, black only where depth is wanted. Adding magenta to a green is the fastest way to make it look dirty , these builds don't.
28 tonal runs
Yellows
49 builds
Single-ink at the top of the run, so they print clean and cost nothing extra. The light steps are where yellow drops out , ours are set above that floor.
7 tonal runs
Oranges
70 builds
Magenta over yellow. Process cannot reach the brightest oranges , where a build stops short of a brand colour, the page says so and points at spot.
10 tonal runs
Reds
98 builds
Two-ink builds that stay saturated instead of going brick. Reds shift the most between coated and uncoated of anything in the library.
14 tonal runs
Pinks
77 builds
Magenta-led, with the tint steps set where a screen still holds. The palest pinks are where arbitrary builds vanish on an uncoated sheet.
11 tonal runs
Purples
77 builds
The hardest family in process. A true violet is outside the four-colour gamut; these are the honest best, and the page names the spot alternative.
11 tonal runs
Warm neutrals
21 builds
Greys with a little magenta and yellow in them. On a warm sheet they sit; a flat black-only grey next to a cream stock always reads cold.
3 tonal runs
Cool neutrals
84 builds
Black-led greys, with just enough cyan to keep them from turning brown on an absorbent sheet. The tint steps are the workhorses of any layout.
12 tonal runs
Blacks and rich blacks
28 builds
Flat 100K is not black , it is dark grey with a sheen. A rich black carries supporting ink under it. These are the builds that stay black and still hold small type.
4 tonal runs
The builds we specify most
See it on paper before you choose
No monitor can show you what ink does on a sheet. So we print a full hue wheel on a 5 × 7 card, both sides: a black ramp, every hue stepping lighter in tints and darker as black is added, and our four house builds (K only, rich black, soft rich and Peppermint coral). Every chip is labelled with its CMYK numbers, top to bottom. Hold it next to your artwork, pick the chip that's right, and type the four numbers into your file.
It comes in every Studio Sample Kit, with the hot foil swatch card and 12 to 14 of our most requested papers and finishes.
Get the Studio Sample Kit · US$ 8Free US shipping and a US$ 10 credit toward your first order.
The bigger book
Our 4-Color Process Color Reference Guide is the studio's bigger book: hundreds of spot colours rebuilt in four-colour process and printed side by side, so you can see which colours CMYK nails and which ones need a spot ink.
Colour optimization, before it goes to plate
We read the colour builds in your artwork before it goes to plate and swap in recommended values where yours will not hold: four-colour builds that only need two, blacks that will print muddy, tints that sit under the floor. Check it on the printed reference card in our sample kit, and approve your digital proof before anything prints.
Where these came from
These are our own house recommendations, set for the papers we print on. They are not a published colour standard and are not affiliated with any colour system.
Common questions
- What is a curated CMYK build?
- A balanced four-colour value from our house library. Each one uses the fewest inks that reach the colour, sits on tint steps that hold on paper, and is the build our prepress team recommends, or swaps in when a file arrives with one that won't hold. They are our own recommendations, not a published standard, and not affiliated with any colour system.
- Why not just pick a CMYK value in my design tool?
- You can, and most of the trouble we fix in prepress starts there. Values picked on a screen routinely use four inks where two would hold better, land in the part of the tint scale that fills in or drops out, or make a black that prints as a muddy grey. These builds are set to avoid all three.
- Will the same build look the same on coated and uncoated paper?
- The same build is not the same colour on two stocks. Coated seals the surface, so the ink sits on top: denser, brighter, sharper. Uncoated absorbs it and the dots gain, so the identical numbers come back darker, duller and lower in contrast. Flip the switch above to see the difference, and judge the final colour on paper, not on a screen.
- When should I use a spot ink instead?
- Process is right for photographic work, for anything with many colours in it, and for jobs where the colour needs to be close rather than exact. A spot ink is right when the colour is the brand and has to be identical on every run, and when the colour sits outside what four inks can reach at all.
- Why does my black look grey?
- 100K on its own is not black on paper. It reads as a dark warm grey, especially over a large area. A rich black carries supporting ink beneath it. But keep rich black away from small type and hairlines: any register error and the type furs at the edges.
- Do the colours on this page match what will print?
- Close, not exact. Each swatch is simulated for a standard coated or uncoated sheet, but a screen makes colour with light and paper reflects it. For the real thing, use the printed reference card.
- Can I see these colours printed before I order?
- Yes. The Curated CMYK reference card in our US$ 8 Studio Sample Kit is one 5 × 7 card printed both sides: a black ramp, a full hue wheel and our four house builds, every chip labelled with its CMYK numbers. Your digital proof then shows exactly which build goes on each colour before anything prints.
- Which build should I use for my brand colour?
- Send us the colour as you have it: a hex code, a CMYK build or a spot colour number. Our prepress team matches it to the closest build for your paper and shows it on your proof. If four colours can't reach it, we'll say so and suggest a spot ink or foil.