Working with colour in Designer - convertion and edition

[BloodDrop]

Hi guys, some of you might see this as a silly question, but I have worked with Designer for a long time and I still get confused a lot when it goes to working with colour. Do you know of any workflow oriented tutorials? Or maybe we could come up with one. I would be happy to contribute if possible, but I would also need to get some answers myself... I do know the difference between RGB and CMYK, I know what colour profiles are, I know all the basic stuff most tutorials focus on. What I don't know is how these colour formats work in Designer and how they determine our work. For example, regardless of the colour format I choose for a document, I get the same set of colour tools and changing the format seems to result just in the way colours are displayed, which cannot be true. When I change from RGB to CMYK or greyscale I would expect to lose some data, but colours seem to keep all the values. Converting between RGB and CMYK gives different values than in other editors or online converters. When I choose black from the Greys palette, it gives a fine RGB black which in CMYK is totally inconsistent...

It would be great if users, both the current and the future ones, had a tutorial showing a full workflow regarding colour management in several cases, such as logo creation and export to assure consistency, or verification of an existing document, e.g. checking if a corporate identity book is correct and in alignment with the used logo files.

I would appreciate if anyone shared their experiences or had any comments, as I may be the only person in the world with such doubts

[Callum]

Hi BloodDrop,

The below Spotlight Articles may provide some insight into this topic.

https://affinityspotlight.com/article/display-colour-management-in-the-affinity-apps/

 

https://affinityspotlight.com/article/designing-for-professional-printing/

 

Thanks

C

[BloodDrop]

Thanks Callum for the info. Unfortunately, the articles deal with the same info I have seen in multiple other websites and tutorials. I do know what CMYK is, and how it differs from RGB, and what Pantone means in this respect... I also know how to prepare material for printing. What I still don't know is why in Affinity the colour workflow gives me different results to those from other applications. Why RGB to CMYK / CMYK to RGB conversion gives the results I would not expect. What would be the right approach to creating a designer file containing a complete set of logo versions suitable for export to both web and printing purposes. The time when we had to create separate source files for print are long gone and most applications I know now rely on creation in RGB and conversion to the right colour range at the export stage. But Consistency is the absolute requirement in this case. What should we do to achieve this consistency in the Affinity package? Maybe the currently published videos will take up this topic at some point and they will answer all my problems I truly hope they do.

[Kal]

Are you sure you're using the same colour profiles when comparing conversions from app to app? If, for example, I use sRGB and FOGRA39 in both Designer and Illustrator, I get consistent conversions (aside from a bit of rounding).

6 hours ago, BloodDrop said:

The time when we had to create separate source files for print are long gone and most applications I know now rely on creation in RGB and conversion to the right colour range at the export stage.

I beg to differ. For photos, sure. But for something like print logos, I never switched to an RGB (or even a Lab) workflow. When Pantone switched their Pantone Solid definitions over to Lab some years ago, I started using the Pantone Color Bridge library instead. Why? Because I'd much rather know and control what CMYK breakdown I'm getting for print, especially when I need a solid process ink in there for sharpness and legibility. Call me old school, but that level of control works for me, and I reckon I get less surprises that way.