OUGD504 // Studio Brief 04: Digital Print workshop session 3

Images placed in Indesign
Photoshop

• 300 dpi
• actual size
• CMYK or greyscale (not RGB)
• .tif or .psd (not JPEG)

Illustrator

• CMYK
• .ai (if we 'place' the image) - can copy and paste

Resize images before placing in Indesign, otherwise the printer has to work through the resizing.

Resize an image in indesign to how you would like, then take the percentage and resize in photoshop to match, so there is no scale value.

File > Package creates a folder including all files, which can include a PDF version.

OUGD504 // Digital Print workshop: Session 2 - Photoshop

The visible spectrum is the colours the human eye can see.

RGB colours in photoshop being changed into CMYK can possibly distort and change the colour for print.

How to change the colour mode.

Colour gamut: the whole range of colours, eg RGB colour gamut.

Gamut Warning highlights the colours only available in the current colour range, eg RGB, which will be unavailable if the colours are changed to CMYK.

By changing the Levels and Hue/Saturation etc of the image, this can be avoided and the gamut warning will decrease, making the image more colour friendly.

Proof Colors shows how the image will look when converted to CMYK.

Why don't we just convert to CMYK?
Because with CMYK, as seen above, there are less options available for editing.

Hold down alt and press a swatch to delete.
Press D to reset chosen colour to black and white.

Emptied swatch palette > save swatch palette as 'Empty swatch palette' to use in the future

The top small square with the warning sign shows the nearest colour available for print, and the bottom one is for web.

By clicking on it the colour is changed.

Spot colours in photoshop

Duotone image

By working with duotone, only 2 colours are used for the printing process, which saves on printing costs. Using this feature in photoshop means you can altar the levels of colours in the image before printing.

The two colours are the equivalent of black and white.
The colours can be adjusted by moving the lines in different places.

By adding a third colour, it becomes a tritone image.

By accessing Channels while still in RGB mode, the image can be viewed in each of the three primary colours to show how much of each needs to be used.

Overprinting

A spot channel can be used to overprint a colour on top of a black and white image.

Viewing the spot channel on its own shows clearly in black where it has been applied.

The solidity can be altered easily in the options, which differs how much ink is used to print.

OUGD504 // Digital print workshop: Session 1

Colour in software

Digital colour modes
CMYK - subtractive colour, ink on paper
simulates how that colour will be made during the print process.
RGB - additive colour,  light via monitors and projectors

CMYK mode is used to define colour as it is when created during the printing process - 'Process Colour'

Cyan, magenta and yellow are overlaid to make Key colour (black)
Black is the key ink because it pulls all the inks together.

We need to think of colour as ink

Delete all swatches for a fresh start

Registration marks button is next to swatches.

The more information we can get the better.

Keep the name of swatches as colour codes.

Different menus are on show for different workspaces, and 'Reset Essentials' will bring back things that get lost.

Used colours from artwork can be added to the swatch palette all at once.

'Global' makes any changes to the swatch be automatically applied across all artwork

Click on 'New Swatch' to duplicate, meaning the colour can be slightly differed to make a new colour.

'Global' gives a tint menu on colour, and will show the percentage of colour when a new swatch is made.
'Global' will also also all the tints to change colour when one is changed.

Spot colours

• Each time an ink is applied there is a significant cost to that.
• Printing with one ink is much cheaper and efficient.
• Efficient for branding as its the exact right colour. A particular colour will always be referenced.
• Metallic inks cannot be printed with CMYK, as they are unique spot colours.

How do we access spot colours in illustrator?

Color books ie Pantone swatches, which are all spot colours because they are specific.

What is the best reference book for colours for certain printers?

The colour code can be typed in to find the exact swatch, which can be added easily to the swatch palette.

Pantone swatches cannot be tampered with.
However, tints can be created which are printed with the same ink.

Saving swatch palettes

Swatch palettes can be saved.

How to find swatches in a new document.

The option to choose so that swatches in other adobe programs.

Save swatches in the same places as files.