Hello, I am new to Adobe Indesign and using CS4 to make a poster. I am trying to replicate my organization's color, cardinal red, which for coated paper is given as, Patone 201C or CMKY 0, 100, 65, 34, and for uncoated paper as, 201U or CMKY 0, 95, 75, 15. However, when I input either of these CMKY number combinations, the resulting color looks different than what it should be. Am I doing something incorrect here? Thank you.
Hi Rob, thanks for your reply and explanation. I appreciate it because I am not too familiar with color schemes and differences in CMYK and Patone. My end goal is to replicate the "cardinal red" color shown in this link. I'm assuming there is a better way than just inputting the CMYK values given for cardinal red. After logging in on that website I have an option of downloading a file that's referred to as a print palette and has file type ASE. Could this be used to assign the correct CMYK profile?
Update: I downloaded the ASE file and loaded that swatch. It makes things convenient since I can just choose the colors I want without manually inputting the CMYK value, however, I think I still have to assign the correct CMYK profile, so that issue remains.
Could this be used to assign the correct CMYK profile?
No, the print CMYK profile would have to come from the printer. Do you have contact with the printer? Is the job printing as process CMYK on an offset press?
There is a general misunderstanding of how color management works in the guidelines. For web work the hex values they are providing are correct as long as you have assigned sRGB as the document RGB profile. Ironically the background color they have spec'd isn't to their Hex RGB guideline—it is RGB 177|4|14 (#b1040e), not 140|21|21
If you are actually printing a spot color, the Pantone 201C works because the ink is a custom mix and wouldn't change much as long as the paper is coated.
Whether the CMYK values work depends on the output device and the paper. If you are printing on uncoated their CMYK breakdown for 201U is definitely wrong.
Having said that if you are responsible for the press color and it is going to be process I would use their 0|100|65|34 mix so you can go back to file and show you used the provided color if the appearance is wrong.
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