Color profile

[ElishevaH]

I designed an illustrator file and want to have it printed on canvas. On the screen it looks great. How can I know how it will look on the canvas after the printing?

[Doug A Roberts]

What does the printer advise?

[ElishevaH]

Something about choosing the setting "canvas". I don't quite understand what he means and where to find that setting. 

[Doug A Roberts]

Try asking them for the name of a specific colour profile.

[ElishevaH]

Where do I choose the color profile in Illustrator?

[Doug A Roberts]

Edit > Assign Profile

[Conrad C]

Assign Profile will do nothing to simulate how the colors look when printed. It just changes what Illustrator assumes the colors are to begin with, and applying the canvas profile through Assign Profile will probably make the colors look wrong. The way to do it is to soft-proof (see my other reply).

[Met1]

Any good printer would be walking you through the process, if you selected him based purely on price this is the reason why he doesn't give a damn. Walk away, find someone who cares about the product they create.

[Test Screen Name]

Also, you need to ask yourself- Are the colours on screen accurate? Did you calibrate your monitor? On a system without proper colour, it's easy to get the colours you want, there on screen, but they will be different for everyone else.

[Conrad C · Accepted solution]

The standard way to simulate on screen how colors will print is to “soft-proof.” The process is similar across Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, and Lightroom Classic.

To do it in Illustrator:

1. Make sure your own display is profiled using a hardware device such as the i1 Display (just an example, there are others). That helps ensure that your display is a reliable color reference. (If it's a more expensive display that supports hardware calibration, do that instead.)

2. Ask the printer for an ICC color profile of the canvas process. It will give your computer the information needed to simulate the print. If they cannot provide one, it can’t be done so you’d have to stop here.

3. Install the color profile on your computer. Both macOS and Windows provide a standard folder where color profiles are made available to any application that uses them.

4. In Illustrator, choose View > Proof Setup > Customize.

5. From the Device to Simulate menu, choose the profile provided for the canvas print.

6. If the printer is at all competent and provided a profile, they should be able to tell you how to set the other options in the Proof Setup dialog box to match their process. If not, try the settings shown.

7. Click OK.

As long as the Proof Setup dialog box is set up right, you can always choose View > Proof Colors to turn the print color simulation on and off. Unfortunately, if you close the document, the next time you open it you have to set up Proof Colors all over again, because Illustrator is one of those frustrating Adobe applications that does not remember the settings and does not let you save the print simulation settings as a preset. (Photoshop and Lightroom Classic let you save multiple soft-proof presets so you can quickly see what it looks like under different printing conditions.)

So it might seem kind of complicated, but once you’re familiar with the basics, you’ll understand how to simulate output in many pro applications, both by Adobe and other companies.