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• • February 22, 2017 at 8:07 am #92326
    Brian Kitko

    Member

    Indesign defaults to CMYK and Illustrator defaults to rgb. I made a logo in Illustrator and am placing it several times across several Indesign files. This logo has a red that prints drastically differently when cmyk vs rgb. When I try to convert rgb to cmyk in any adobe product, it prints a hideous red as well. I have found a browser tool that gave me a conversion I am pleased with in print.

    This situation led me to the question, “Do I need to be placing cmyk .ai files into Indesign?” I can understand advice on the internet to keep bitmap images in rgb to preserve best case colors and convert on export for specific printing situations, but with solid sections of color in vector objects the difference is very noticeable. I could do indesign swatches in rgb but see my issue above.

    Do I need separate rgb and cmyk logo files in this situation? Is it normally ok to place rgb .ai files into Indesign?

  • February 22, 2017 at 9:52 pm #92349
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    It’s extremely rare that I would make a logo or anything with solid colors in Illustrator as RGB. I’m not sure what you mean by AI defaults to RGB. You can set the color space of the Illustrator doc when you create it.

    The only AI documents I would make in RGB are “fine art” — like something photorealistic or with lots of gradients and stuff. For logos or icons or basic graphics, make them in CMYK in Illustrator. Then they’ll match the CMYK colors in InDesign.

  • February 23, 2017 at 8:02 am #92359
    Brian Kitko

    Member

    Thanks David. By default I guess I mean thats what you get if you dont designate a color mode and I have mostly glossed over it in the past.

    Would you say you always use cmyk for logos even with web design being so prevalent? I cant comfortably say the logo will be printed more than it will appear on the website where all the other red elements and divs will be rgb.

    Again, I could do separate rgb and cmyk logo files. Ive just never heard about it being done with vector art like I have with bitmap images, so Ive never really thought about before.

  • February 28, 2017 at 9:25 am #92476
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    That is a very good question about web vs. print logos. Personally, when I work with logos, I always have an RGB version and a CMYK version — even if they’re vector. That way, I can ensure the RGB is right and the CMYK is right.

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