Soft proof your colors:
In a traditional desktop-publishing scenario, you create your artwork
using a software program, print a hard proof of the results, and then
use the proof as a reference to adjust for color shifts in the artwork.
The color management features in Adobe® Illustrator® simplify
this process of managing and previewing colors in your artwork. Color
management helps you keep colors consistent when they are transferred
between different output and display devices and lets you display an online
preview, or soft proof, of the printed colors.
In this tip, we'll show you how to set up color management options for
a prepress artwork file and preview the press results, all without printing
a hard proof. The following steps apply to artwork that you plan to color-separate
and print using standard CMYK inks.
1. Specify a prepress color management setting:
In Illustrator, choose Edit > Color Settings. For Settings, choose
the color management setting that best corresponds to your geographical
press condition. Then click OK.
You can choose from settings that manage color for common press conditions
in the U.S., Europe, or Japan. The chosen color management setting will
be used for all new artwork files that you open, until you choose a different
setting in the Color Settings dialog box. Here, we used the U.S. Prepress
Defaults setting to color-manage our artwork for four-color printing with
standard U.S. inks.
2. Create a new RGB file.
Choose File > New. Name the file, select the RGB color mode, enter
the artboard dimensions, and click OK. Then create your artwork using
the Illustrator tools and commands.
You can create and edit artwork in either RGB or CMYK color mode. We worked
in RGB mode to create a dual-purpose artwork file that can be published
both as an online piece and as a color-separated, printed piece.
3. Display a soft proof of the printed colors.
Choose View > Proof Setup > Custom. For Profile, choose the Working
CMYK option, and click OK. Then choose View > Proof Colors to display
an on-screen simulation of your printed colors.
Illustrator uses the specified color management setting to approximate
colors as they will be printed on your destination press. Keep in mind
that the reliability of the soft proof depends on a number of different
factors, such as the calibration of your monitor and your viewing conditions.
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