Magenta - Electric Magenta Vs. Process Magenta

Electric Magenta Vs. Process Magenta

Note that while both of these colors are called magenta they are actually substantially different from one another. Process magenta (the color used for magenta printing ink—also called printer's or pigment magenta) is much less vivid than the color electric magenta achievable on a computer screen—indeed, CMYK printing technology cannot accurately reproduce pure magenta as described above as electric magenta (1/2 100% blue light + 1/2 100% red light=magenta) on paper.

When electric magenta is reproduced on paper, it is called fuchsia and it is physically impossible for it to appear on paper as vivid as on a computer screen. In order to reproduce it, a small amount of cyan printer's ink must be added to printer's magenta to make fuchsia, and therefore fuchsia is not a primary color of pigment—it is the color of printer's magenta that is one of the primary colors of pigment (along with cyan and yellow).

The name fuchsia was chosen as the alias for electric magenta because that is the color name for the color that in printed reproduction is its equivalent.

Since prior to the introduction of personal computers magenta was synonymous with printer's magenta, colored pencils and crayons called "magenta" are usually colored the color of process magenta (printer's magenta) shown above.

Read more about this topic:  Magenta

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