Designs for Print
Considerations for preparing digital artwork or layout that will be commercially printed
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Indesign
Commercial Print
Offset Lithography - Mass Production
Digital Print -
Screen Print - More of a hand rendered finish
Digital Colour Modes
CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black)
subtractive colour, ink on paper
RGB (red, green, blue)
additive colour, light via monitor, projector etc
CMYK mode is used to define colour as it is when created during the printing process
Sometimes referred to as Process Colour
Inks are a little transparent so overlaying of CMYK colours with create different colours
We need to think of Colour as Ink
Swatch Pallette - More consistent colours easier to use when using multiple things that need the same colour and to also create your own swatches
Registration - Line each colour up in the printing process
Add Used Colour - Creates a swatch for every colour found on artwork.
Global Swatch - Tints of process colours
The global swath links other swatches where applied therefore if you change the colour of the swatch it will change all swatches with that colour.
Spot Colour/Spot Ink
- During the print process another ink used.
- Ink already mixed.
- Number of inks used are cheaper.
- Economic reasons/financial considerations
- Consistency of colour
- Pantone reference system (pantone colour sample booklets)
- Tells printer exactly what colour to print.
- Very efficient and consistent
- Accuracy
Saving Swatches to another illustrator file
Save swatch in library Ai.
Where its going to be saves -> Swatches
Open Swatch library -> User defined
For Photoshop save as ASE (adobe swatch exchange)
- Do not save file in the same illustrator swatch folder.
For InDesign save as ASE in folder as content for InDesign.
Process colours
Printed using a combination of four inks.
Global Swatches
Automatically updated throughout your artwork when you edit it.
Spot colours
Ink that is used instead of, or in addiction to, CMYK process inks.
