This article appeared in Issue 112 of InDesign Magazine.Claudia McCue shows why you should be in the habit of checking your print layouts with Overprint Preview before output—especially if you work with spot colors and blending modes.
Q. I’ve created a brochure with some color overlay effects, and my client has approved my design, based on what I showed her on my monitor. But now that it’s time to go to the printer, I’m finding that the effect just doesn’t look the same in an exported PDF, and the proof from the printer shows the same problem. How can I fix this?
A. Unfortunately, InDesign’s default viewing mode is a bit lazy—it doesn’t faithfully render some blending modes if you’re using spot color content. For example, in Figure 1, spot color shapes are using the Hue blending mode. In Normal view mode, the effect is subtle. But that isn’t the real story; choose View > Overprint Preview, and InDesign buckles down and displays the actual outcome. It’s a bit of a shocker, isn’t it?
Figure 1: By default, InDesign may not show accurate previews of blending modes applied to spot colors (left). But turning on Overprint Preview (right) solves the problem.
What can you do to resolve this? Be aware of this issue, and if you’re getting fancy with spot colors and blending modes, always work with Overprint Preview turned on, or get in the habit of frequently activating it to check your work. But what if you have your heart set on a particular appearance, and the effect just won’t behave? The easiest fix is to convert
spot color content to process (CMYK) colors; then you’re likely to achieve the desired look. If you don’t have the option to convert to process, try using a combination of lowered opacity and the Multiply blending mode.
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I find when you’re overlaying PMS over other colours whether CMYK or PMS, your best bet is to run a print test, because the computer will have no idea how it will look.
Sorry your PDFs look good ;-)
Acrobat recognizes overprint attributes automatically and displays correctly. Try this: In Acrobat, launch the Print Production tools and choose Output Preview. At the top of the dialog, UNcheck “Simulate Overprinting,” and you should have a perfectly lousy preview ;-)
The Lab aspect of Pantone swatches is really just sort of an internal reference for InDesign to use as it figures out how to display the color onscreen, and has no bearing on the mechanical behavior of the spot color.
If it looks good in the PDF, you can trust it if the printer honors PostScript overprint. This can be problematic with some digital press front-ends, and the printer may have to convert the content to CMYK. See the post on InDesign Secrets about “Yucky Discolored Box Syndrome” (yes, really: https://bit.ly/2L8FzA3).
Hope this helps!
–Claudia
Claudia,
This is such a good example. I tried to recreate the effect so I could show my students, but I can’t get it to look bad in the .pdf. Overprint preview looks bad in InDesign. I assume it would look like that in the RIP if printed straight from InDesign. I tried all the different color conversions in the Acrobat dialog box, and they all look great! The Pantone solid colors seem to be Lab. It that the reason it is working well in the .pdf? If it looks good in the .pdf can I trust it?
Thanks
Virginia