Why Your Booth Graphics Don't Match Your Logo Color: CMYK, Pantone, Bleed and Safe Areas
Short answer: screens make color with light, and trade show graphics are printed with CMYK inks, which can't reproduce every bright screen or Pantone color. Give us a Pantone Coated number for each brand color so we can build the closest CMYK match, and order a hard copy proof when a color has to be exact. For layout, add the bleed shown on your template and keep logos and text inside the safe area.
"Our logo is a bright blue. Why does it look duller on the backwall than on our website?" It's one of the most common calls we get about graphics, and the answer has nothing to do with the printer being off. It comes down to how color works on a screen, on a Pantone swatch, and in ink.
Screens make color with light. Graphics print with CMYK inks.
Your monitor mixes red, green and blue light (RGB), and it can show very bright, saturated colors. Printed graphics can't glow. They reflect light off ink, and the range of colors ink can make is smaller than the range a screen can show.
Every graphic we sell is printed with CMYK inks: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. That's true for dye-sublimation fabric, UV printed rigid panels and printed vinyl. We don't print with premixed Pantone spot inks, so every color in your file is built from those four inks.
For most colors, that works great. For some, it can't get all the way there.
So why spec Pantone at all?
Because a Pantone number is the most reliable way to tell us what color you actually want. A Pantone color is a physical, printed swatch that looks the same in every swatch book. RGB and HEX values look different on every monitor, and CMYK numbers from a brochure printer were built for their press and paper, not ours.
When you give us a Pantone number, we can look it up in the Pantone Color Bridge, a guide that shows all 2,359 Pantone spot colors next to their closest CMYK match, and build the color as closely as our inks allow.
Use Pantone Coated, not Uncoated
Pantone colors come in two main versions. Coated (the number ends in C, like PMS 300 C) is printed on glossy paper and looks crisp and saturated. Uncoated (ending in U) is printed on paper that soaks up ink, so the same number looks flatter and duller.
Dye-sub fabric and UV printed panels come out bright and saturated, much closer to a coated swatch. If your brand guide lists both, give us the Coated number. If it only lists Uncoated, send it anyway and tell us, so we know which swatch you're comparing against.
Colors CMYK can't match
A lot of Pantone colors convert to CMYK with almost no visible difference. These are the ones that usually shift:
- Very bright oranges, like Pantone Orange 021 C. CMYK versions look slightly duller.
- Vivid blues and purples. Bright royal blues often print a little more purple or a little flatter.
- Bright, saturated greens.
- Metallics like gold and silver. CMYK can make a gold-colored tan, but it won't shine.
- Fluorescent and neon colors. These can't be made from CMYK inks at all.
If your brand color is in one of these groups, the Color Bridge guide will show you what to expect before anything is printed.
Other things that affect color
- Material. The same file can look slightly different on fabric than on a rigid panel or vinyl. If a counter wrap needs to match a backwall exactly, tell us up front.
- Backlighting. Backlit graphics are printed to look right with light behind them, so they'll look darker with the lights off.
- Your screen. PDF proofs are for layout, not color. No monitor shows exactly how ink will look on fabric.
- Show hall lighting. Convention center lighting is a mix of LED, metal halide and daylight, and it shifts color a little in every booth.
When color is critical, order a hard copy proof. A printed proof shows how your colors will actually look on your material, before the full graphic is printed. Hard copy proofs are $75 each plus shipping. See our upload page for details.
Bleed: why your artwork has to go past the edge
Bleed is extra artwork that extends past the finished size of your graphic. It gets trimmed off, sewn into an edge or wrapped around a frame, so it never shows. But without it, any small shift in cutting, sewing or stretching leaves a thin white edge around your graphic.
- Most products need 1/2" of bleed on all sides.
- Most dye-sub fabric needs 2", because fabric stretches and gets sewn or wrapped around a frame.
Extend your background color or photo all the way into the bleed. Don't put a border right at the trim line either. If the trim shifts even a little, it will look uneven.
Safe area: why there's a no-text zone
The safe area is the space inside the trim where your important content is guaranteed to show. Everything between the safe area and the trim line is a background-only zone. We ask you to keep logos, text, phone numbers and URLs out of it because that's where the graphic meets the hardware:
- Fabric graphics wrap around frames. On a tension fabric display, the edges curve around the tubes and out of sight.
- Pop-up and SEG graphics have edges you can't see. Silicone edges tuck into a channel, and pop-up end panels wrap around to the side.
- Banner stands hide the bottom. On a retractable banner stand, the bottom of the print stays inside the base, and the top is clamped in a rail.
- Counters, tables and people block the bottom of a backwall. Text below about 3 ft is hidden behind a counter or a crowd anyway, so put your headline and logo high.
The safe area isn't the same on every product, so always start from the template for your display. Our design templates mark the bleed, trim and safe area for each product.
Color and layout checklist
- Set up your file in CMYK, not RGB.
- Give us the Pantone Coated number for every brand color when you upload.
- Add the right bleed: 1/2" on most products, 2" on most dye-sub fabric.
- Keep every logo and line of text inside the safe area on the template.
- Keep images at 100–200 ppi at actual size. Here's why.
- Order a hard copy proof if color matching is critical.
Need help setting up your files? Our designers can set up your artwork on the right template or rebuild a logo as vector art. Design fees apply; see our graphic design services for details.
Updating a display you already own? See our replacement graphics buyer's guide.
Common questions
Is PMS the same as Pantone?
Yes. PMS stands for Pantone Matching System. A color written as PMS 300 C and one written as Pantone 300 C are the same swatch.
My brand guide only lists HEX or RGB values. What should I send?
Send what you have and tell us they're screen values. If you can, find the closest Pantone Coated swatch first, since a printed swatch is something we can both look at. Without one, the values are converted to CMYK, and the printed color may look less bright than it does on your screen.
Will a reprint match the graphic I bought last year?
It should be close, but small shifts between print runs and between materials are normal. If a new graphic has to sit next to an older one, tell us when you order, and consider a hard copy proof.
Ready to send artwork?
Read our file setup instructions, then send your files through our upload page. Questions about a color? Call 540-438-9933 or email art@tradeshowdirect.com.
Source: Pantone, Color Bridge Guide Coated.
