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krishnam89587071
New Participant
September 19, 2019
Question

Only one color on gradient is printing differently

  • September 19, 2019
  • 5 replies
  • 2281 views

I am printing a business card and one of my gradients is being printed the wrong color. It's a two color gradient, from light blue to dark blue, but only the dark blue is coming out gray. This is weird because that same dark blue is covering the entire back of the business card and on other parts on the front where the gradient is, but those come out dark blue. It's just the gradient portion of dark blue. I am using a mask to create a shape out of the gradient as well, if that means anything. 

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    5 replies

    C
    chrisl41501719
    Participating Frequently
    September 20, 2019

    You're also up in what we like to call the "Blurple" range. A blurple is a blue that prints more purple than it looks onscreen. For CMYK you will want your Magenta and Cyan channels to have a minimum of 20% difference in their values. Navy Blue, Royal Blue, Cerulean Blue, etc - all cold blues can muddy up this particular gradient because you're pushing a warm into a cold.

     

    Also, google "Navy Blue CMYK" and drop the K and Y channels as low as possible to keep color polution to a minimum.

    C
    chrisl41501719
    Participating Frequently
    September 20, 2019

    You can select the objects containing the gradient and Object - Flatten Transparencies. Unfortunately, that will replace the spot color info with CMYK. Old school, we'd do a hard copy with Printer Notes to identify spot colors in design elements.

    M
    matthewn43692242
    Inspiring
    September 19, 2019

    Looks like you've already figured out how to remake the Navy blue as a process color so it is compatible with the process light blue in the gradient. If you need to re-adjust the gradient transition to compensate for any visual changes you can select the object filled with the gradient, select the gradient tool from the toolbar & drag across the object to define the transition or you can select the gradient swatch in the swatch menu and open the gradient window to edit the transition in the gradient itself. Sorry if you already know all that.

      Ton Frederiks
      Ton Frederiks
      Community Expert
      September 19, 2019

      How are you printing the business card? On a color printer?

      K
      krishnam89587071Author
      New Participant
      September 19, 2019
      Yes on a color printer. And changing the light navy to a process color fixes this problem for printing, but it also changes the transition of the gradient. Is there any way to preserve this?
      Ton Frederiks
      Ton Frederiks
      Community Expert
      September 19, 2019
      Changing the spot to process will also change the transition. You may need to adjust the colors to your liking.
      Ton Frederiks
      Ton Frederiks
      Community Expert
      September 19, 2019

      I see that one of the colors is a spot (the Light Navy) an the other one in the gradient is a processc color mix.

      Are you planning to use the spot color for printing?

      The blend between the Process and the Spot probably causes the problem.

       

      K
      krishnam89587071Author
      New Participant
      September 19, 2019
      I'm actually working on someone else's project and going from there. How do I change the light navy to a process color? And how would I be able to see this information to check colors next time?
      michelew83603738
      michelew83603738
      Community Expert
      September 19, 2019
      When you double click on a swatch, you can change the type of color it is there - a dialogue box pops up and one of the fields is between process and spot color.
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