I'm inclined to agree with Marliton that SVG might not be appropriate for a logo of that complexity. ... View more

What happens when you try what Monika suggested?   The problem is that most stock vector graphics of this style, seem to rely on blending modes more than might be necessary. Usually it's gradients to black, when a gradient to 0% opacity of the main colour would have done the job and been more versatile. ... View more

Try filling the object with a solid pink fill. Then, in the Appearance panel, add a gradient fill above it. Set the gradient to go from 100% opacity black to 0%, and set the blending mode of the gradient fill to multiply. ... View more

Does the gradient use spot colour swatches? ... View more

I wouldn't try too hard to get hold of the original designer... ever again! Any designer setting 100% CMYK blacks is better kept away from packaging design. Have you explained your situation to the box company? It should be a pretty easy fix on their end. ... View more

But I would agree with John that having a banner ad as a regular signature isn't very courteous. Having it as an attachment is downright obnoxious. ... View more

They're saying that you have to much detail for a 650px wide image. Personally, I disagree... so long as it doesn't have excessive JPEG compression. ... View more

What format are you exporting to? Looks like Outlook is doing some pretty awful compression. I can't advise on what Outlook settings might help.   It would probably better to upload a PNG of the design somewhere, and code an HTML signature that references it. This will also avoid it being an attachement, which isn't good practice. You should be able to find quite a few turorials for doing this online. ... View more

Why do you need to trap in InDesign? I most cases, it's better done by the RIP or prepress workflow system. ... View more

They'll get around to it eventually. In my experience, the number of print companies in the UK working to FOGRA 51 is still a minority. For now, it's just a case of installing the approiate profiles for the ECI site Dave posted. ... View more

There's no rasterising when you save as PDF, so effectively you're asking the PDF viewing application to emulate a peculiarity of Illustrator's rather flawed GPU preview.   You're probably better off not using GPU preview, and doing what you can to get your work looking how you want it to look using the more stable and accurate CPU preview. ... View more

What format are you exporting to? Which method and settings?   Would it be possible to show us screenshots of the CPU/GPU versions, and the exported file? ... View more

Italics aren't just skewed text - they're specific letterforms that in most cases slant at an angle chosen by their designer. For instance, I can see that your example isn't using the proper italic forms, as italics usually have a single-story 'a'. I'd be very surpised if a serif font like that didn't have a true italic version, and if you don't have it, then it shouldn't be used for editorial body text. ... View more

Applying the Transform Effect to a layer can be very useful for symetrical designs.   Start with a square artboard. Draw a rectangle the size of the artboard, with no fill or stroke, and lock it. In the Layers panel, click on the circle icon to the right of the layer name. In the Appearance panel, FX > Distort & Transform > Transform. Rotate 60°, 5 copies. Now everything you draw on that layer will automatically have the symmetry applied. Once you're done, Unluck All and Expand apperance.     ... View more

The more vibrant 'Logo 1.jpg' has a profile called 'Display' assigned. You should never assign your display's profile to your documents. It might be more pleasing on your computer, but it won't be what other people see.   For RGB work, best practice is usually to keep sRGB as your working RGB profile, and assign that profile to all your RGB documents. Then adjust your colours until they look how you want them to look in that space/profile. ... View more

JonathanArias  wrote If you do video work, go with 4k. otherwise, you will not visually see a difference using a 4k monitor for making catalogs in indesign. Why do you feel you need a 4k screen? I've found the 5k much better for making fonts choices on screen, and for vector work, I'm not wheeling back on my chair as much to look at things from a distance. I couldn't go back. ... View more

The small amount of RAM is probably the biggest problem with your current machine. Are you particularly attached to that 32" 4k, and do you need a laptop rather than a desktop? If not, the 3.1GHz iMac 5k 27", with as much RAM as you can afford (bought separately as it's really easy to install) might be the best bet. ... View more

Jonathan's right. There's no way you're going to get reliable e-mail-ready HTML out of Illustrator. Depending on the design, it'll be better to either export the whole thing as a graphic and use that (not generally best practice), or export elements of it and rebuild in whatever you use to build email campaigns (Mailchimp etc). ... View more

I think Jacob's right, and that's just the nature of the platforms rather than anything to do with the exported file. Is it transparent when you open it in Photoshop? If you want a particular background colour, it's probably best built into the file. ... View more

While the improvements in press control and colour management have helped standardise the CMYK gamut over the years, they haven't widened it. Gamuts have widened in toner-based digital print, but most DFEs/RIPs are set to mimic a press standard, so they don't really take advantage of it. But as Rob suggested, if you're starting with Pantone's old CMYK builds as your target, you've a better chance of a match than you have trying the match the actual solid ink that's definitely out of any CMYK gamut. ... View more

Laubender  wrote hm, do you suspect that the given Lab values are not as accurate as they could be? I've never used a spectro on a Pantone book to see what actual Lab values I get, but I have used a spectro with Pantone Colour Manager to read them, and they've always come up with the correct Pantone number, which I guess is a pretty good indicator of their accuracy. But then there's substrate... how many jobs get printed on the same stock as Pantone books? The solution is already happening: designers need to move on from the 'Pantone first' method of selecting brand colours! I've been mainly RGB-first for a few years now, but I wouldn't recommend it to designers that don't have a bit of an instinct for out-of-gamut colours. ... View more

I concur with Dax and Derek. If the company has the choice between accepting a properly formatted, InDesign-generated PDF/X-4, or not getting the job, they'll choose the former. Just use the AI template as a guide to build your artwork in ID. Perhaps place it on its own layer and reduce the opacity. ... View more

arpanj8370114  wrote I would suggest moving from CS3 or CC to the latest Photoshop edition which would automatically update all the Pantone Libraries. Furthermore, the latest Photoshop edition will have few predefined colors, but not all the Pantone colors. To avoid the translation from CMYK to RGB you must use the Pantone Color Bridge Shade Card RGB to CMYK. This shade card also comes with the Pantone software that can be used to import the color bridge libraries in photoshop. Once you have this library installed from the color bridge, you will be able to access all the spot and process colors. The Coated & Uncoated color bridge set is a multi-purpose tool which could solve your need. It is best used for determining how Solid Colors will look when reproduced through the four-color printing process, as well as a HTML value reference for digital media display intent. This two-guide set features all the 1,845 PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM Colors, some of which are missing as per your question shown side-by-side with their four-color process printed equivalents on both coated and uncoated paper, enabling printers and designers to quickly determine how closely Solid Colors can be matched in CMYK along with the software to install the libraries in photoshop. This advice would only be correct if the company printing your work were printing to the exact same specifications that Pantone used to determine the CMYK builds in their 'Color Bridge' guides. They won't be. It's much more likely that they'll be printing to an industry standard like FOGRA39, in which case, if you want the closest CMYK match to Pantone solid, you use an ICC profile-based conversion. Pantone has no business determining CMYK values, ever. The only useful function they have as a company is in defining spot colour ink formulas and their corresponding Lab values, for use only in spot colour print work. ... View more

The most common reason is that they haven't bothered to update their published specs. The second most common (indicated by them actually noticing you've sent them X4 and specifically asking for X1) is that they haven't bothered to understand their workflow software adequately. The third is that their workflow software is archaic. There are other reasons in other kinds of printing, but for a business card, it's one of those three and they wouldn't get my work. ... View more

tdcarp  wrote The output for the test graphics is print Apologies I've missed something amongst all this, but if your artwork is for print, why are you rasterising to PNG anyway? ... View more

You're going to need real dimensions to get it printed anyway, so you'd only be delaying it and potentially designing to the wrong proportions. I'd say get them now. Is this billboard frame currently empty, and not owned by an advertising company? ... View more

They really ought to be supplying, or at least recommending an appropriate ICC profile, but if you've asked them and they won't, then Stephen has recommended some good industry standard ones. Personally, I'd do the 'your CMYK' - RGB - 'Newspaper CMYK' conversion in Illustrator, then fix the black-plate-only elements after, as there's only a small amount. ... View more

rcraighead's solution is great, but I'd definitely recommend giving Dimensions a try for a more photorealistic result. I've been too intimidated by 3D software for decades but I've found it pretty easy to learn. There's a dodecahedron like that in its built-in shapes, and you can apply the green smoke image as a 'decal'. ... View more

winterm  wrote There's a bunch of other letters which may serve just fine. None quite as well, though. The Photoshop blurring thing was tongue in cheek, but it would actually work. So would squinting! If I were to guess, I'd guess it was chosen when developing the Mac/LaserWriter UI, or maybe it was established before then in phototypesetting machines (did anyone here ever operate one?). I bet John Warnock would know. ... View more