Illustrator to PDF - change in colour

[Zesty_listener98BC]

I am creating an artwork on Illustrator, on a Mac, in CYMK.

When saving from Illustrator to pdf, the colour blue changes drastically. It seems that the other colours do not change so drastically. Only the blue does.

I need to save in the Adobe PDF/X-1a:2001' preset and 'Coated GRACOL'.

Any settings I can change to try to solve this?

Thanks

[Monika Gause]

first of all, use Acrobat for viewing the PDF.

How is your color management set up?

what kind of color is that blue?

Do you convert the profile when writing the PDF?

[Zesty_listener98BC]

Hi,

I am not sure about the colour management, or were to find it.

When saving to pdf, in Colour Conversion, I cannot select 'No Conversion' as it is greyed out.

The blue colour information is in the attached photo. Maybe there is a probelem with Web colours?

On Acrobat Reader, the colour is already better. So maybe I should not worry about it?

[Test Screen Name]

So you are designing in RGB and converting to CMYK when you save? You can expect some darkening of bright colours, though normally you see a "gamut warning" in the colour selector (to see this, choose a colour of 0-255-0).

Web colours are not a special kind of colour. They are just a shorthand for giving the 3 RGB colours. Some are too bright for CMYK.

Colour management is a big and complicated subject, but you can expect colour surprises until you study and follow it.

[Zesty_listener98BC]

No, I am working immediately with CMYK.
I also do not have gamut warning for this colour.

Thanks for the information

[Monika Gause]

To learn color management, you might consider this training (paid ressource):

Color Management Fundamentals

There is some basic information available on the Adobe Help:

Understand Photoshop color management

Set up color management

[Zesty_listener98BC]

I will have a look.
Thank you

[Lhemz0527]

Don't worry too much about how your color display differently in Illustrator and Acrobat Reader.

As long as your ink color values (CMYK percentages) remain the same.

However if you are assigning color values visually (assuming you have a calibrated monitor) and you want your color choice to be visually the same as your output PDF file, you can assign the GraCol color profile to your illustrator document.

Edit menu -> Assign Profile... Coated Gracol

Don't worry, this will not alter your color values.

And when you save your PDF just ensure that the same profile is set correctly in your Destination and Output Intent.

Hope this solves your worry.

[Zesty_listener98BC]

I tried changing the 'Assign Profile', and when saving to pdf, it still gives me this bad colour 😕

It may (and hopefully) is just a problem with the Mac Preview. As on Adobe Reader the colour seems to be fine.

Thanks for your help

[Test Screen Name]

If you are working with CMYK there is no situation in which you should be using a web colour code.

[Zesty_listener98BC]

How can I check if it is a web colour code?
This is the colour that I am using:

[Test Screen Name]

All colour codes like #000000 or #c1e2f2 are web colour codes. If you are working in CMYK, you should choose colours by the correct CMYK codes for the press or printer that will be used (do not guess or use a general guide to CMYK).

[Zesty_listener98BC]

I'll try to see to this. Thanks a lot.