CMYK color model completely match the look of items which are printed if opposite color modes are being combined in both mediums. When designing items to be printed, designers view the colors which they are choosing on an RGB color mode (their computer screen), and it is often difficult to visualize the way in which the color will turn out post-printing because of this. To reproduce color, the CMYK color model codes for absorbing light rather than emitting it (as is assumed by RGB). The 'K' component absorbs all wavelengths and is therefore achromatic. The Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow components are used for
Magenta colors of pigment. (The secondary colors of pigment are blue, green, and red.) As such, the hue magenta is the complement of green: magenta pigments absorb green light; thus magenta and green are opposite colors. The CMYK printing process was invented in the 1890s, when newspapers began to publish color comic strips. Process magenta is not an RGB color, and there is no fixed conversion from CMYK primaries to RGB. Different formulations are used for printer's ink, so there may be variations in the printed color that is pure magenta ink. A typical formulation of "process magenta" is shown in