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How to handle Profile Mismatch (Color management) in Illustrator?

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
May 15, 2020
6 replies
5415 views

Hey everyone, first time posting here.
This issue is driving me nuts, so I made a community account just for this. Please help :')

I have an .ai file that was given to me by a colleague, and that file's embedded color profile was "Display".
My original color settings was "sRGB IEC61966-2.1".

When copying an object from this particular file A (color profile: display) over to one newly created file B (color profile: sRGB) on my desktop, the colors on the exported PNGs are of a slightly different shade.
For example, #FBEAE2 would become #FCE8E0, even though both files read the colour as #FBEAE2.

So, I tried to remedy it by assigning a profile to file B.

I've also tried changing my color settings to "Monitor RGB - Display" as well as "Display".

Still the same, somehow the color from file A was just slightly richer compared to file B.

Then file A starts giving me this warning upon opening.

I am puzzled.
1) What could be the original embedded "Display" profile? Shouldn't it be the same as mine?
(If it helps, both our desktops are Apple iMacs within 2017-2018)

2) Why are the colors somehow different across both files even though it's the same hexcode?

I understand it has something to do with the color profiles, but I'm not exactly sure. I could be wrong.

3) And why is Illustrator even giving me this warning anyway? The only reason I could think of is that somehow both our "Display" profiles are different, even though the names are the same.

I would think of this as possibly an isolated issue, because so far I haven't found a solution. Please help.

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How to

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Correct answer NB, colourmanagement

Hi cloudyzj

You wrote " I'm still trying to figure out the reason behind this occurence."

You mean the colour difference described originally?

It's been explained pretty thoroughly above:

1:

'Hex' colour values, like those for RGB and CMYK, are not unequivocal. Only when associated with the correct ICC profile do they actually describe colour. If different colour spaces are used then the colour is differernt, that’s how its supposed to be.

2:

your colleague should never be either working with "monitor colour" as the colour space nor sending out files with that profile embedded.

That’s what 'working colour spaces' are for - e.g. Adobe RGB, sRGB. Those are device independent, your colleague's display profile is only useful for one thing - that particular display. It should never be selected in Photoshop's colour settings.

I hope this helps

if so, please "like" my reply and if you're OK now, please mark it as "correct", so that others who have similar issues can see the solution

thanks

neil barstow, colourmanagement.net :: adobe forum volunteer

[please do not use the reply button on a message within the thread, only use the blue reply button at the top of the page, this maintains chronological order]

NB, colourmanagement

Community Expert

Hi

appreciate the thanks

have a good weekend

Neil

C

cloudyzjAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks for the clarification! And for the usage tips.

NB, colourmanagement

Correct answer

Community Expert

Hi cloudyzj

You wrote " I'm still trying to figure out the reason behind this occurence."

You mean the colour difference described originally?

It's been explained pretty thoroughly above:

1:

'Hex' colour values, like those for RGB and CMYK, are not unequivocal. Only when associated with the correct ICC profile do they actually describe colour. If different colour spaces are used then the colour is differernt, that’s how its supposed to be.

2:

your colleague should never be either working with "monitor colour" as the colour space nor sending out files with that profile embedded.

That’s what 'working colour spaces' are for - e.g. Adobe RGB, sRGB. Those are device independent, your colleague's display profile is only useful for one thing - that particular display. It should never be selected in Photoshop's colour settings.

I hope this helps

if so, please "like" my reply and if you're OK now, please mark it as "correct", so that others who have similar issues can see the solution

thanks

neil barstow, colourmanagement.net :: adobe forum volunteer

[please do not use the reply button on a message within the thread, only use the blue reply button at the top of the page, this maintains chronological order]

Ashutosh_Mishra

Inspiring

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. In addition to the great responses given by Monika and Ton, I'd request checking out help article https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/using/color.html to know more about colors. Hope it helps.

Regards,

Ashutosh

C

cloudyzjAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hey Ashutosh,

Thank you for this article as well! It has definitely helped, although I'm still trying to figure out the reason behind this occurence.

Cheers,
Cloudyzj

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

2) Why are the colors somehow different across both files even though it's the same hexcode?

Hexcode is just another way of describing an RGB color.

Different RGB profiles will give different colors for the same color numbers.

An extreme example:

C

cloudyzjAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hey Ton_Frederiks,

Yes, this was what I was trying to refer to in that question. Thank you for helping to clarify this!

Cheers,

Cloudyzj

Monika Gause

Community Expert

The working color profile should never be Display. Display is the color profile of a monitor.

Also the profile assigned to a file should never be Display.

Your colleague has to change that. And of course they have to adjust their color management settings.

As for the conversion of colors: this happens according to color management settings in your Illustrator. Obviously it is set up to covert into profile. Which sometimes makes sense with RGB images, but usually not when doing web design. So you need to adjust this.

The warnings about different color profiles are a good thing, because they make you aware that someone else intended something differently with this file. I would leave them on. But you need to adjust what is going to happen when they pop up.

C

cloudyzjAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hey Monika_Gause,

Thanks for the prompt reply! I didn't manage to check this thread for the past 2 weeks, sorry.
Thank you for clarifying on the working color profile as well. I have made the changes with my colleague as well, and left the warnings on.

Can I go on further to ask, what might be the best/default color settings for Illustrator?

Assuming the end product is for web, is there a standard RGB color setting that I should always use?

How would web design differ from standard RGB images such that the color conversion does not make sense?

Monika Gause

Community Expert

For web design usually sRGB is a suitable RGB profile.

Web design differs because usually you want to keep the numbers. When doing other things you often want to keep the appearance and convert the numbers.

As for everything else: please learn color management. You need to set it up in a way that works for your workflow. Depending on which kind of files you get from colleagues and what you have to deliver.

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