OUGD504. Design Production. Design for Print. Creative Suite Session 1.

today we had a web session with mike in the mac room. based on how we work in illustrator.

main colour modes
-cmyk - subtractive. about inks. cmyk also called process colour
- rgb - addative. about screen, pixels

cmyk print splits images into each colour separately - printed layered on top of each other. yellow or cyan first then magenta then black to add final definition.

working with colour in illustrator.

you can use the x key to switch round whether the outline box or the fill box is selected. you can use shift+x to switch the colours round between outline and fill. these boxes are used to select the colour of the aspect of an object selected.

you can also use the colour selection boxes at the top of the screen - both do the same job but the top one will access the swatches library.

this colour window allows access to the full colour spectrum and the cmyk sliders for specific colour selection and reference.

the swatches library is used to save colours that have been used or are wanting to be kept. 

you can also select and save effects and textures in the swatch library and add your own ones or delete existing ones.

these are the default swatches

this is the colour spectrum palette which enables specific colour selection

another feature of the swatch library is the option to add used colour. so any colours youve used in a design, even if just once, you can press add used colours and all the colours that were previously used will be added to the swatch library.

in the swatch options box there is the option to make a swatch into a global swatch which is very useful in changing tints of that colour (espec is the colour palette is limited) and also it means any change in colour to one object in that global colour with have the same effect on all the objects in that same global colour or tints of it.

you can also change the global colour using the cmyk sliders and it will replicate it the same in other objects of the same global colour.

the white corner indicates if a swatch is global.

global colours automatically come up with the tint selection box so you can change tints and save them as new percentage swatches

the percentage tint swatches come up below the original and show the percentage level.

you can also use the tints of the original global colour and using swatch options can change every object in any tint of that original colour simultaneously.

process colour is layering cmyk colours so mixing to make new colours whereas spot colour inks are ready mixed inks for a specific colour - relates to pantone. spot colour printing is much cheaper if working with few (2-3) colours max. if spot colours used in print with cymk will be very expensive because will be 5 or more plates. 

if a spot colour is used on an object it can be replicated in print anywhere so its easier espec if a patent or brand colour. there are certain inks like fluorescent or metallic that cant be replicated by cmyk so spot colour would come into play then. 

spot colour only works in commercial print because cant guarantee exact replication with cmyk printer. 

to open a spot colour swatch library do as below. you can access full pantone or other libraries.

spot colour swatches have white corner and black dot

you can save swatch libraries to use in other illustrator files or save as ASE (adobe swatch exchange)

then can access swatch palette in other illustrator files or in other programmes like photoshop etc.

i thought the session was really useful in teaching me about working with colour on screen but for print and gave me some good tips on what to do and how to work with different colours.