For this session we are focussing solely on working with colour in illustrator
CMYK for print, the inks are transparent so multiple tones can be created by layering different tints of the colours. The key (K) consolidates the combination of CMY. Whereas RGB is for screen.
Focusing on the swatch palette, swatches allow us to add the exact same colour to any object.
To add a new swatch go to the swatch menu in the top right and select new swatch, alternatively you can select the piece of folded paper next to the bin symbol.
When you select a colour from the spectrum it isn't automatically added to your swatch menu so to add it to the swatch menu you must drag the square over on the left onto the swatch palette. Or alternatively you can use the colour selection tool as opposed to selecting the shape. Once the colour has been added to your swatch menu it'll look something like the image below, it'll have a small corner missing out of it. This means it is a global colour, global colours mean you can make changes in the swatch menu and it'll change all the things that are that colour without selecting the objects.
Global colours enables us to create tints which isn't possible with normal colours.
Whenever you change colour all the tints change that are associated with this colour change as well because it's global.
Spot colours
This is a solid colour meaning it hasn't been printed using a mixture of CMYK, it's a colour printed using its own ink. It is chosen over CMYK because it can be cheaper to print as you only need a single plate per colour, whereas a single colour in CMYK could use up to four plates. Spot colours allow consistency, for example major corporate branding such as sainsbury's always have the same orange so spot colours mean the colour will always be consistent. Spot colours also enable you to print colours that aren't available in CMYK such as metallic or fluorescent.
Pantone is an example of spot ink, each colour has its own unique reference number allowing you to consistently match up. To access these;
Change the pantone swatch menu into a list like we did previously to make easier to navigate, at the top of the menu there is a search bar that allows us to search for a reference without spending time manually searching.
whenever you click on a pantone colour it is automatically added to the swatch palette. Do not change the name because when printing commercially the printer will not know the reference number and won't be able to print the exact colour for you. Because it's a global colour you are still able to set up tints with pantone colours.
Halftone is used to print tints with a single plate spot colour.
When we open a new illustrator document the swatches reset because the swatches are unique to the document they're used in. To save swatches so that they can be used in other documents go to go to swatch menu and 'save swatch library as AI' this means they can be opened in multiple documents through the swatch library and user swatches.
ASE (adobe swatch exchange) allows us to export our swatches so that they can also be used in photoshop and indesign.