When we work with colour we work in CMYK. Various tints of these colours allow us to print in a variety of different colours.
With CMY we should theoretically be able to have a full colour image though we can not guarantee that black will de created.
We are going to be working specifically with Adobe Illustrator. To start we made an A4 page, we then drew an object on the page and applied a colour to it.
Before we did this we looked into different ways we can apply colour to the object.
- Double click on the fill and stroke button in the bottom left hand corner
- upper left hand corner
- Colour palette
- Swatches
The swatch palette allows us to look at the value of the CMYK we have applied to the design. This makes it very easy for any design to be reproduced.
Simplifying swatches:
We do not always use all of the swatches in the palette. To simplify this we can select all the unused swatches and delete them.
Registration swatch is used for printers marks. Crop marks etc. It looks black but it is not black.
Making a new swatch
The colour mode should be preset at CMYK.
Process colours = CMYK
If we double click on a swatch we can edit its ink mixture.
If we choose a colour in the colour picker and want to add it as a swatch we can select the object and drag the bottom left hand corner to the swatch window and drop, this will be added.
Adding all colours to our swatch palette...
These swatches are specific to this document, they will only be visible when opening the exact document.
The grey box next to the swatch makes it different. When we double click on the new swatch there is a global box which is ticked. This is not ticked on original swatches. They are known as local swatches because once it is applied it will only change one object.
The difference between the two swatches is that when we alter the swatch everything which is using this colour will be altered. Example, 4 rectangles 2 of which are made with one swatch, altering the swatch will alter both rectangles.
Tints can only be used if the swatch is a global swatch.
Spot colours..
What is a spot colour??
It is a solid colour, not made up of CMYK dots. Not printed using a mixture of CMYK.
Why would we choose to use a spot colour?
- Expense
- Restricted colour palette
- Consistency
Sainsbury's logo is consistently the same which allows everything to look the same colour.
Heinz baked beans teal colour is a spot colour
If we are designing for corporate clients they will give us the pantone qualities so we can produce consistent design.
Accessing Pantone swatches on illustrator...
Clicking on the pantone option will add it to our swatches. This is a spot colour. This colour reference system only works in commercial print.
Saving our swatch library
After we have saved our swatch palette it will be available in any illustrator document.
Saving our swatches to be used in photoshop and indesign.
ASE: Adobe Swatch Exchange
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