I pick RGB over CMYK for my Etsy shop previews and people keep complaining

I run a little sticker shop out of my apartment in Austin and I use RGB files for my digital mockups because they pop way brighter on screen. Had three customers last month say the actual stickers looked dull compared to the preview, but honestly that's just the paper and printer limits. Anyone else think we're too strict about forcing CMYK on proofs when the customer's phone screen is already lying to them?

2 comments

2 Comments

cole_mitchell576d ago

Stop telling customers to expect perfect color from phone screens. Felix's test proves people just remember brightness more than accuracy. Keep your mockups sRGB and warn them their phone is lying.

felix4786d ago

My buddy runs a screenprinting shop and he tested this exact thing back in 2019 with 50 customers. He showed half of them CMYK proofs and half RGB proofs on their phones before printing. Turns out the RGB group complained 3 times more about color accuracy even though both groups got the exact same final print. The real problem isn't the color space, it's that your customers are comparing your sticker to their phone's oversaturated screen memory. If you dim your monitor to 120 nits and calibrate your mockup to sRGB instead of full Adobe RGB you'll match what their eyes actually see better. Have you tried locking your preview to a specific brightness warning in the description?