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roo · 10-01-2008, 07:40

Hello, can anyone tell me what's going on here?

It's a CMYK document and in this gradient I'm trying to use there's 2 colours. However, the gradient doesn't graduate from the one colour to the other, it goes to a kind of grey colour between even though there's only two swatches in it!

I've attached the pallette so you can see what I mean.

Any help would be great... I'm a CMYK noob!

One other question. My colour selector (that you get from double clicking a colour on the bottom of the tools pallette) is in RGB too, so you select a colour from it and then the CMYK converted version is applied in document... any way to change it to a CMYK model so I can limit the guesswork?

Oooh one more too... what colour profile should I design with for professional print? I'm not sure how it works but I think the printer requests you use a specific profile? The problem is my boss hasn't chosen a printer, yet wants me to design the brochure ASAP so I was wondering what's the safest bet in that case.

My boss also told me to make one in A4 first then decided it was going to be a folded A3 brochure with both sides printed. And I'm using Illustrator for layout. God I'm in a mess

JonoMarshall · 10-01-2008, 07:49

Professional print work going to plates = CMYK (+ any spot colours, etc, if you're going above a 4-process print job.)
With digital print work there's minimal difference and you'd struggle for colour accuracy anyways.
Display work = RGB

Your gradient is accurate, the mid-range of those two colours would be a greyish blue. I'd suggest Googling a bit to learn the fundamentals of colour as it's a handy thing to know a bit about when designing.

Hope that helps somewhat..!?

roo · 10-01-2008, 07:55

Cheers... that confuses me more!

How would I get it to act like RGB and fade from the dark to the light without the greyish bit? Might it be best to design in RGB then convert to CMYK at the end for someone that's used to RGB? I'm a noob on a tight deadline!

Mandy Moo · 10-01-2008, 08:10

I don't think your gradient is right, I gave it a go and got a smooth colour conversion. What's your CMYK ref? I'll give it another go on my machine. Don't design in RGB to convert to CMYK.

Dusteh · 10-01-2008, 08:34

Its illustrators way of displaying CMYK gradients from two spot colours, the grey is simply the black falling off, the two colours don't 'mix' in the way you would expect on screen. The print will come out differently from the on-screen preview.

roo · 12-01-2008, 04:26

Incase any of you were wondering... I got it fixed. It was because I was using swatches made from an RGB model I think. When I tried doing the same by making my own swatches using just the CMYK sliders on the 'color' pallette it turned out fine.

Now about those other questions....

Mandy Moo · 12-01-2008, 11:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by roo

Incase any of you were wondering... I got it fixed. It was because I was using swatches made from an RGB model I think. When I tried doing the same by making my own swatches using just the CMYK sliders on the 'color' pallette it turned out fine.

Now about those other questions....

Your colour mixer shouldn't have been in RGB in the first place. Double check that your document colour mode is on CMYK (File>Document colour mode>CMYK) because even if you change your colour tool tab from RGB to CMYK, Illustrator will still convert it back to RGB unless your document mode is on CMYK.

You should always design for print in CMYK or spot colours (only use spot colours if your printer print Pantone colours, standard high street printers i.e Prontoprint will not) and Illustrator isn't the best software to use for designing leaflet. Infact I find Illustrator has problems dealing with justified text if there are tabs in that paragraph.

Indesign or Quark is best for this type of work.

Is that all your questions answered? I think your first few questions will be solved when you change the colour mode of your document.

roo · 13-01-2008, 15:25

Hi Mandy.... it is CMYK, definately! It's just weird that for some reason when I doubleclick one of the two colours (fore and background) at the bottom of the tools pallette the mixer is in RGB! Can't find any way to change it over either. Maybe my Illustrator's corrupt.

Don't have Indesign and not enough time to learn it

thanks for your help though.

All but one... the colour profile one

10-01-2008, 07:40	#1 (permalink)
roo Scatterbrained. Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Posts: 224	Illustrator gradient question and CMYK hassle! Hello, can anyone tell me what's going on here? It's a CMYK document and in this gradient I'm trying to use there's 2 colours. However, the gradient doesn't graduate from the one colour to the other, it goes to a kind of grey colour between even though there's only two swatches in it! I've attached the pallette so you can see what I mean. Any help would be great... I'm a CMYK noob! One other question. My colour selector (that you get from double clicking a colour on the bottom of the tools pallette) is in RGB too, so you select a colour from it and then the CMYK converted version is applied in document... any way to change it to a CMYK model so I can limit the guesswork? Oooh one more too... what colour profile should I design with for professional print? I'm not sure how it works but I think the printer requests you use a specific profile? The problem is my boss hasn't chosen a printer, yet wants me to design the brochure ASAP so I was wondering what's the safest bet in that case. My boss also told me to make one in A4 first then decided it was going to be a folded A3 brochure with both sides printed. And I'm using Illustrator for layout. God I'm in a mess Attached Thumbnails

10-01-2008, 08:34	#5 (permalink)
Dusteh Sir digby chicken caesar Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 4,835	Its illustrators way of displaying CMYK gradients from two spot colours, the grey is simply the black falling off, the two colours don't 'mix' in the way you would expect on screen. The print will come out differently from the on-screen preview. __________________ unconsolidated isoparms

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10-01-2008, 07:49	#2 (permalink)
JonoMarshall Day-Glo Jazz Monkey Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Shoreditch, London Posts: 1,129	Professional print work going to plates = CMYK (+ any spot colours, etc, if you're going above a 4-process print job.) With digital print work there's minimal difference and you'd struggle for colour accuracy anyways. Display work = RGB Your gradient is accurate, the mid-range of those two colours would be a greyish blue. I'd suggest Googling a bit to learn the fundamentals of colour as it's a handy thing to know a bit about when designing. Hope that helps somewhat..!?

10-01-2008, 07:55	#3 (permalink)
roo Scatterbrained. Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Posts: 224	Cheers... that confuses me more! How would I get it to act like RGB and fade from the dark to the light without the greyish bit? Might it be best to design in RGB then convert to CMYK at the end for someone that's used to RGB? I'm a noob on a tight deadline!

10-01-2008, 08:10	#4 (permalink)
Mandy Moo Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Stoke on Trent Posts: 495	I don't think your gradient is right, I gave it a go and got a smooth colour conversion. What's your CMYK ref? I'll give it another go on my machine. Don't design in RGB to convert to CMYK.

12-01-2008, 04:26	#6 (permalink)
roo Scatterbrained. Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Posts: 224	Incase any of you were wondering... I got it fixed. It was because I was using swatches made from an RGB model I think. When I tried doing the same by making my own swatches using just the CMYK sliders on the 'color' pallette it turned out fine. Now about those other questions....

13-01-2008, 15:25	#8 (permalink)
roo Scatterbrained. Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Posts: 224	Hi Mandy.... it is CMYK, definately! It's just weird that for some reason when I doubleclick one of the two colours (fore and background) at the bottom of the tools pallette the mixer is in RGB! Can't find any way to change it over either. Maybe my Illustrator's corrupt. Don't have Indesign and not enough time to learn it thanks for your help though. All but one... the colour profile one

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