Dan Margulis Applied Color Theory
What Does the "K" Stand For?
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:22:58 -0000
From: "Deaubrey"
Subject: What does "K" stand for in CMYK?
This topic came up in a color/art class of mine today
and no one had a "final" answer.
What does "K" stand for in CMYK?
Some say "Kohl," some say "Keyline or
Key," and some say it's the last letter in "blacK."
Does anyone here have "the" answer?
Thanks,
David Deaubrey Tighe
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Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 17:20:47 -0800
From: "Mike Russell"
Subject: Re: What does "K" stand for in CMYK?
From: "Deaubrey
What does "K" stand for in CMYK?
Key - both because it's the plate you line the other
plates with, and to distinguish it from "Blue", the
printer's term for Cyan.
Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
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Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 17:28:15 -0800
From: J Walton
Subject: Re: What does "K" stand for in CMYK?
On 2/13/06, Deaubrey wrote:
Does anyone here have "the" answer?
No, but you'll get some responses anyway..
J Walton
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Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 16:56:45 -0700
From: "Les De Moss"
Subject: Re: What does "K" stand for in CMYK?
K stands for Black. B is not used as it would be
confused with Blue.
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Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 16:06:40 -0800
From: Marco Ugolini
Subject: Re: What does "K" stand for in CMYK?
It is my understanding that it indicates
"Key", as in "Key Plate."
In printing, the Key plate is the one assigned to the
darkest ink, which usually carries the defining elements of image detail.
In theory, the Key plate could be a dark brown, or a
dark blue, or some other dark ink. I have worked in situations where a dark
ink other than black substituted for it.
So, it seems unlikely to me that "K" stands
for the last letter in "black".
Regards.
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Marco Ugolini
Mill Valley, CA
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Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 18:25:47 -0700
From: "Andrew S. Webb"
Subject: Re: What does "K" stand for in CMYK?
All of the oldest pressmen I’ve know said it was
Key, because it was the key to the CMYK process.
_andrew webb
WebbWorks Words & Pictures
http://www.webbwork.com
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Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 18:20:54 -0800
From: "Paul D. DeRocco"
Subject: RE: What does "K" stand for in CMYK?
From: Marco Ugolini
It is my understanding that it indicates
"Key", as in "Key Plate."
In printing, the Key plate is the one assigned to the
darkest ink, which
usually carries the defining elements of image detail.
In theory, the Key plate could be a dark brown, or a
dark blue, or some
other dark ink. I have worked in situations where a
dark ink other than
black substituted for it.
So, it seems unlikely to me that "K" stands
for the last letter
in "black".
I don't doubt your correctness, but meanings shift as
usage changes. In
computer graphics, K has come to mean black, because
that's what it always
is. If K simply referred to the darkest color, then a
CMY process like a
3-color dye sub would be referred to as CKY, or perhaps
KMY, rather than
CMY.
Ciao,
Paul D. DeRocco
Paul
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Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 20:39:01 -0600
From: "jimbean"
Subject: Re: What does "K" stand for in CMYK?
I am sorry, I cannot agree with the recent answers...
david asked about K, in cmyk... it seems to me that if we are
discussing cyan, magenta, yellow, then the K has to be black to be
consistent.. the question didn't say: 'what could the k mean or stand for
in the context of a printing process.. etc...
k may equal key, k may be discussed as the 'key' , if
you printed the K (black ink?) first.. then maybe yes, you could use it a a
registration key.. I am certainly not an old timer press guy.. however the
recent answers are not consistent to the specific question... what
then does the C stand for in cmyk, the suntan ink? but at least we
are having fun discussing this... the current generations of inkjet
printers all have LK, would you call that light key, light registration
key? k=black or at least k equals the black plate... enjoy the
evening, jim bean
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Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:19:53 -0500
From: "jc castronovo"
Subject: Re: What does "K" stand for in CMYK?
"Kicker" plate is what an old plate retoucher
told me many eons ago, CMY being weak without the kick, but I like the idea
of the k in the letter black. More importantly, this is English. In other
countries, is it still CMYK or do they go by the first letters of their
color names?
john castronovo
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Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 22:06:35 -0500
From: "Iliah Borg"
Subject: Re: What does "K" stand for in CMYK?
German versions I heard
Karbon
Kontur
Kontrast
ISO seems to suggest "Key"
Best regards,
Iliah Borg
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Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 19:20:32 -0800
From: Marco Ugolini
Subject: Re: What does "K" stand for in CMYK?
In a message dated 2/13/06 6:20 PM, Paul D. DeRocco
wrote:
I don't doubt your correctness, but meanings shift as
usage changes. In
computer graphics, K has come to mean black, because
that's what it always
is. If K simply referred to the darkest color, then a
CMY process like a
3-color dye sub would be referred to as CKY, or perhaps
KMY, rather than
CMY.
I don't believe that this would be an appropriate use
of "K". If we go back to the fundamentals, C, M and Y are the
subtractive primaries derived from the additive primaries R, G, and B, of
which they are the reverse (though not precisely). The key plate is an
*extra element* with no direct correlates in the additive scenario, whose
presence is necessitated by the impurities in the CMY inks and their
inability to generate, by themselves, a truly dark neutral black.
Giving either C or M the moniker "K" in
3-primary subtractive environments would represent a wildly confusing and
inappropriate use of the term: C+M+Y are a non-changeable set, whereas K is
the extra element added to an essential core.
Regards.
--------------
Marco Ugolini
Mill Valley, CA
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Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 11:42:48 -0000
From: "claire_higgins80"
Subject: Re: What does "K" stand for in CMYK?
I've always worked on the understanding that K stood
for Key. Although I can see how the K in Black works for some people.
Claire Higgins.
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Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 08:10:15 -0500
From: Jim Rich
Subject: Re: What does "K" stand for in CMYK?
Back before Al Gore invented the internet and
during the time of John Yule refined the CMYK process, the K in color
printing stood for the key line and then its meaning moved toward black.
My..02
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Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 11:20:21 -0200
From: Clic!o
Subject: RE: What does "K" stand for in CMYK?
Hi, JC,
Here in Brazil is CMYK allright, and "K" is
known as the "key" plate. At least that's how press people teach
in the graphics art colleges around here.
:-)
Clic!o Barroso
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Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 08:32:56 -0500
From: "Wayne Eddins"
Subject: K=Key
K for black means key. It is an old letterpress term.
Back when a full range black (not a skeleton black) was used, the black was
more important and carried most of the detail in the image.
Wayne Eddins
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