How to apply colour:
- Use the swatches palette. It's like a library of colours, and is easier to use the same colour consistently.
- A starting point is to clear the swatches, to start creating your own personalised colour palette. I left the grey folder in for easy access if I want a certain percentage.
- Printer's marks are to do with how the commercial printing process works. When working with commercial print, a certain colour mode needs to be used: CMYK, the process colours. Colours are made up of certain values of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key, the process inks. When combined, these values make up the colour that will be seen on the page.
- The registration colour (crosshair) is 100% of each colour.
- Drop down menu -- New Swatch. Adding percentages to create a colour, example below.
- Switching to 'Small List View' gives more information on the swatches, including their name and colour mode. Double clicking will allow editing of the swatch.
- A grey box next to the colour method on the swatch list means that it is a global swatch. In the thumbnail view, it is distinguished with a white corner on the icon. This means that when it is adjusted it updates all the shapes that have been used with that swatch. If it is non-global, all shapes will stay the same colour when the swatch is adjusted.
- Another aspect of the global swatches is the ability to adjust the colour's tint, and create a new swatch with that percentage. When the main global swatch is adjusted, it adjusts all versions of that colour with the specified tint.
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Spot Colours
A spot colour is a colour that cannot be printed using the CMYK colour mode. It is not printed with any of the 4 process colours but an ink on it's own. It is used when a colour is needed to be printed that CMYK simply cannot replicate on paper.
If the design is simple enough, two colours plus stock for example, a spot colour could be a cheaper alternative. They are also good for keeping consistency, so they're useful in branding where replicating the same colour effectively is vital.
A definite way of getting the exact colour that you need for a print is to use the PANTONE referencing system. It is used in industry to ensure the client gets the right colour in their print. For this experiment we used the 'solid coated' swatch library, which is suited for gloss-like stock. 'Solid uncoated' is suitable for a matt-like paper.
When using the PANTONE colours in the custom swatch library, it is vital not to rename the swatch, as it could lead to a mix up in the printing process.
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When printing, it is possible to set up the file to separate the prints into the 4 process colours and any spot colours used. This means that on this occasion, because I am using 1 spot colour, the file will be printed on 5 different pages. A useful process when screen-printing a design using the CMYK colour process.
If the swatch library is needed for another creative program, such as InDesign, the file should be saved as 'ASE'. The only downside to this is gradients, patterns or tints are not available to exchange.
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