Newspaper - cannot use grayscale color profile

[btod27906334]

Hi guys,

I am doing a newspaper ad for a black and white press. I talked to the newspapers and the right color profile is

WAN-IFRAnewspaper26v5_gr.icc

I did double click on the color profile and it did install it all right in Mac environment. 

However when trying to save as PDF from Illustrator that color profile is not there. The only available is the

WAN-IFRAnewspaper26v5.icc

but this is the COLOR version for newspaper.

Funny that the same color profile for grayscale it does appear all right in Photoshop and InDesign when exporting or saving as.

By the way, from time to time, Illustrator's color profile do not stick and change by the default mode which is Emulator Adobe Illustrator 6.0 and is not a good choice for printing. I don´t know if i should re install Illustrator or reset Color Profiles in Mac (i don´t know how to do it)

The precarious solution i found is opening the PDF in Acrobat and converting color to this profile but i don't like it since it does make a very big file and i suspect is not a good solution for a good workflow.

Any tips or ideas?

Thanks for any help!

[Monika Gause]

As for your problem with Illustrator setting color management to "Emulate Illustrator 6": this should not happen. You might try if it's a preferences issue. You can rename the preferences folder, thus forcing Illustrator to create a new one when you launch next time. In case the resetting continues to happen and you want to revert to your old preferences, you can trash the newly created folder and name back the old one.

As for the embedded profile: to which kind of PDF are you exporting?

What else is in the file? Do you need to convert to profile because of embedded raster images? Or is there just vector content in the file that shouldn't be converted anyway?

[SebastiaoV]

Thanks for the good tip! I will try to trash Illustrator´s Preferences to see if the Emulate alternative dissapears then.

As for the embedded profile: to which kind of PDF are you exporting?

I am trying to export PDF/X-3:2002. The newspaper gave me the settings.

What else is in the file?

Text and some pictures.

Do you need to convert to profile because of embedded raster images?

I think if i use the same color profile in Illustrator that the picture has which is specially use for this newspaper the output should be the best posible one. The same you see in screen will be the same that will be printed then. Sometimes black tones get very dark in newspapers because of ink saturation so Newspaper´s color profile such as this one should help.

Thanks for the helpful info.

[Danny Whitehead.]

Illustrator doesn't support greyscale mode like Photoshop does, and therefore doesn't support greyscale profiles like 'WAN-IFRAnewspaper26v5_gr.icc'. Your safest bet is to work in CMYK mode, assign the CMYK 'WAN-IFRAnewspaper26v5' profile, and make sure you only use tints of black. You can check this while you work using the the Separations Preview palette, unticking the black separation to make sure there's nothing on the CMY separations.

[SebastiaoV]

Your safest bet is to work in CMYK mode, assign the CMYK 'WAN-IFRAnewspaper26v5' profile, and make sure you only use tints of black.

Thanks for the good tip!

I notice if i use FOGRA 39 CMYK i will see the black and white picture in its original black and white. If i use the WAN-IFRAnewspaper26v5.icc profle the black and white picture will look brown. It is kind of distracting.

You can check this while you work using the the Separations Preview palette, unticking the black separation to make sure there's nothing on the CMY separations.

Could you send me an screen capture where are the Separations Preview Palette in Illustrator?

Thanks again for the good info! 😉

[Danny Whitehead. · Accepted solution]

SebastiaoV  wrote

I notice if i use FOGRA 39 CMYK i will see the black and white picture in its original black and white. If i use the WAN-IFRAnewspaper26v5.icc profle the black and white picture will look brown. It is kind of distracting.

That's because the black ink will look brownish when printed. Using FOGRA 39 will give you false expectations. It represents a much lower dot gain, on a bright white, coated paper, very different to newsprint. If you have the RGB originals for your images, convert them to 'WAN-IFRAnewspaper26v5_gr.icc' in Photoshop. Assign 'WAN-IFRAnewspaper26v5' to your Illustrator document. You might not like what you see, but you'll benefit from seeing the limitations of newsprint while you work.

You can view the Separations Preview using Window > Separations Preview. Switch 'Overprint Preview' on, and you can use the eye icons to turn individual separations on and off.

[btod27906334]

Thanks for the good info Danny! very useful indeed.

By the way, are you familiar with the Mac OS environment for color management? I did double click and install WAN-IFRAnewspaper26v5.icc (i mean the COLOR profile not the grayscale version) but is not available as an export option. in Illustrator. It does appear in InDesign and Photoshop.

Maybe if i trash where they are stored...

thanks again 😉

[Danny Whitehead.]

I tend to put all my ICC profiles here: Macintosh HD/Library/ColorSync/Profiles. In there I have folders for CMYK, RGB Working Spaces, Greyscale, Monitor Profiles etc.

That makes them available to all applications, for all users (not that there are any others on my work machine).

[btod27906334]

Thanks for the good tip Danny 😉

I will save them in this location then.

[Ton Frederiks]

As Danny mentioned, Illustrator does not have greyscale mode.

But you can convert your PDF in Acrobat to your grescale profile.