HKS (colour system)

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Please improve this article if you can. (February 2007)

HKS colour fan.

The HKS is a colour system which contains 120 spot colours and 3250 tones for coated and uncoated paper. HKS is an abbreviation of three German colour manufacturers: Hostmann-Steinberg Druckfarben, Kast + Ehinger Druckfarben und H. Schmincke & Co. HKS colours, similar to the Pantone colours, are used for any kind of print publication to produce predictable colours. Like in the Pantone colour system, there are HKS colours that can't be reproduced using the CMYK colour space, like bright orange or certain tones of blue. HKS colours are cheaper but also limited compared to the huge Pantone colour space.

The advantage of the HKS Tones is that it bases on the euroscale colourspace. It follows the guidelines of ISO 12647:2 2002 and the accordingly FOGRA The Fogra Website Standards (like Fogra27L) Means sampler are on all PaperTypes of the 12647 available. This makes it easier to Print the Colours in Offset but also in common digital printing technologies. See more at the ECI Website about the European Printing Standards.