In fact, if you have a document that only uses spot colors and no process color plates, some designers believe they can see the spot colors better if they leave the document in RGB. Make sure there’s a check next to “CMYK Color.” If “RGB Color” is checked instead, then change it to CMYK.īe aware that the saturation of the colors on your screen will become more muted if you make the change to CMYK, since RGB is considered a more “lively” color space than the printed page allows. You can check your color mode by going to File → Document Color Mode. While you don’t have to work in CMYK just because you’re printing a document commercially (especially when using spot colors, which exist independently of the CMYK plates), you won’t be able to use the Separations Preview unless you are. If the panel seems to be empty, check to make sure your document is in CMYK color mode. Go to Window → Separations Preview to launch the Separations Preview Panel. Here’s how to launch Separations Preview in Illustrator. Launch Separations Preview in Illustrator This way, you’ll be prepared for how the various process colors will interact with each other when you commercially reproduce an Adobe document. Since both Adobe Illustrator CC and Adobe InDesign CC are popular print layout powerhouses, we’ll focus on the Separations Preview in these applications.

The Color Separations Preview will help you prep your files when you’re sending your job to a professional print house. You’ll only need this panel if you’re going to be doing any commercial printing if you’re sticking to your home printer (laserjet, inkjet, and the like), you won’t need to bother with separations. The Separations Preview tool provides you with a visual display of how the various color inks in your document will interact with each other on the printed page. It’s wise to check the settings for the actual inks and make sure they’re going to interact in a predictable and satisfying way, for both you and your client. And one way to prevent any unexpected color results is to preview the print output before we send our files out the door (or email box).

The outcome? We can get results we’re not expecting when we send our files to the printer. And there’s a difference between on-screen color and in-print color, which is most important to remember (and troubleshoot) if you’re going to print.Īs graphic designers working between multiple platforms and applications, we can sometimes forget which mode we’re working in, or which colors have been applied where. Filed in Design Tips and Tricks on Januby PFLĬolor is a big topic.

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