Desaturated Colors - PDF & Printing

[sincere_strategist5E2B]

Hi everyone!

I'm using the new 2025 Illustrator and have recently noticed that my PDFs are being exported with desaturated color. For reference, I haven't played with any color settings and haven't with past versions either. Unless default settings have changed from 2024 to 2025 then everything should be the same. I'll leave a screenshot below of my settings, as well as an example of the desaturated colors.

This is definitely a section of design/Illustrator that I have neglected over the years, so I'm looking forward to finally learning about it lol.

Thanks!

[Anubhav M]

Hello @sincere_strategist5E2B,

Thanks for reaching out. From the screenshots shared it seems you are using a Windows computer. If yes, would you mind trying to recalibrate your display for sRGB by following the steps shared here (https://adobe.ly/49u0eYK), rebooting your computer and then relaunching Illustrator to see if it helps?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[Monika Gause]

Which color mode is the Illustrator document?

In which app are you viewing the PDF? How is the color management set up in it?

[sincere_strategist5E2B]

Hi Monika,

The document is in CMYK, and I'm viewing the PDF in Acrobat, and the color settings for Acrobat can be seen below.

Thanks!

[Monika Gause]

Can you soft proof the document in Illustrator? Does that look the same then?

That orange color - are the color values the same as in Illustrator when you measure them in the Prepress section of Acrobat?