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tully1254
Known Participant
November 29, 2017
Question

Change colour swatch value in CC Library

  • November 29, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 3865 views

I have saved colour swatches into my CC library, and I will be using the colours in various documents.

However, I have not yet confirmed the colour, and if I would at a later stage change the colour value of that swatch, can I change it in the CC library and automatically have it change throughout the documents?

Looks like to me it's not going to work. Anyway to get round this?

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    1 reply

    Steve Werner
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    November 29, 2017

    There is no way for CC libraries to link colors. Don't add colors to the library until they are final.

    days_of_speed
    Inspiring
    June 19, 2020

    I've added a swatch (that is final) but the RGB / Hex / CMYK isn't consistent with colour guide info. 

     

    In RGB space it is fine, along with the hex. But teh CMYK is out. If I amend the CMYK I change the HEX and RGB. Why is this happening?

    rob day
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    June 20, 2020

    Just seen the link to your "look up" - amazingly helpful - much appreciated.

     

    What would your advice be re the CMYK - keep an eye on your guide?

     

    Out of Gamut really just mean unreliable and not precise?

     


    What would your advice be re the CMYK - keep an eye on your guide?

     

    Providing RGB/HEX, CMYK values for client brands is a difficult problem—I assume that’s what you are trying to do? In any case you want to make sure your client understands it is not possible to provide a single set of CMYK and RGB values that would reliably match a specified color, because the appearance of CMYK and RGB depends on the display or output device.

     

    I think the best you can do is identify the brand color with a device independent color space like Lab, and then specify the RGB and CMYK spaces in your guide—there is no universal RGB and CMYK. Pantone’s Solid Inks (and other solid ink systems) are defined with measured Lab values, so you can use the printed solid ink swatch books to select the brand "source" color and identify the expected print and display destination CMYK or RGB color spaces, which is what I’ve done with my scripted guide.

     

    Out of Gamut really just mean unreliable and not precise?

     

    A good number of the Pantone solid inks are outside of a typical CMYK gamut, and some are outside of the sRGB gamut, which relative to other RGB spaces is small, but is the default RGB space for the major web browsers. My guide identifies the colors that are not in the GRACol Coated gamut—but many are on the edge, so depending on the color it might mean unreliable. Your 0|180|81 is well outside of the CMYK gamut—Photoshop shows out-of-gamut to the Working CMYK space with a warning triangle, which if you click it, shows the expected appearance change: