[ADe] Improvements to the Swatches panel

[LCamachoDesign]

I'd like to suggest a few improvements to the Swatches panel:

 

• Ability to convert swatches from and to normal/global/spot. For example, convert a normal swatch to global, or convert a spot to normal, and so on.
• Fills should automatically rename when colour is edited. For example, a fill named C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:10 should change to C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:50 if I do edit the colour to be a 50% black.
• Ability to group swatches into folders.
• Global colours names should be their values (for example C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:0) rather than "Global Colour %n"
• A command to select/delete all unused swatches.
• Perhaps create a document palette by default for any new document?
• A "Merge Swatches" command that works like in Illustrator
• Select multiple swatches at once to delete/copy them
• Global, overprint and spot colour indicators should be larger, they're hard to see when the swatch is selected (see attached)

All these are to help us manage & identify the colours, plus correcting mistakes all designers make eventually. :P

Thanks!

[MikeW]

Global colors should be named what the user wants them to be.

 

Perhaps if any swatch name field is blank or text text deleted , then it should be populated with the color model/values.

[LCamachoDesign]

Global colors should be named what the user wants them to be.

 

Perhaps if any swatch name field is blank or text text deleted , then it should be populated with the color model/values.

 

Yes, that would work great! Thanks for your input. :)

[Kal]

On 05/02/2017 at 9:10 AM, LCamachoDesign said:

I'd like to suggest a few improvements to the Swatches panel:

• Ability to convert swatches from and to normal/global/spot. For example, convert a normal swatch to global, or convert a spot to normal, and so on.

 

I agree LCamachoDesign. Working with colour palettes is a frustrating exercise in Designer. Your suggestions would take it closer to Illustrator in this regard. (I don't always say this, but Adobe gets colour swatches right.)

 

I would add to your list:

• Drag and drop of colour swatches within palettes
• Simple way to add Pantone swatches to document palettes (drag and drop, or contextual menu)
• Retain Pantone colour names (don't change them to Global Colour 1, etc)
• Search field in 'Add Global Color' panel, and edit colour pop-up.

Without these features, it really is hard to work with Pantone swatches and spot colours. An especially odd and confusing occurrence happens when you make a new global swatch from a Pantone swatch. Whether it's a spot colour or not, you can right-click on the new swatch and choose 'Rename Spot'. It then brings up what appears to be the correct Pantone name, but clicking 'OK' does not change the swatch from 'Global Colour 71' or whatever it is. (I'm scared to try and override the suggested Pantone name for fear of what it might do to the original Pantone swatch!) All in all, it's just very confusing and counterintuitive.

 

On 05/02/2017 at 11:47 AM, MikeW said:

Global colors should be named what the user wants them to be.

 

Perhaps if any swatch name field is blank or text text deleted , then it should be populated with the color model/values.

 

Yep. Illustrator works a bit like this, while InDesign has an explicit 'Name with Color Value' option.

[pammiller]

Ditto to all the suggestions.  

 

For my current project, I have about 80 manufacturer specified palettes that I cannot alter.  After choosing the palette I want to use, I add my working colors (not the whole palette) to the document, close the source palette (don't want to edit the swatches in it by mistake), and then create a document palette.  If I want to test colors from a few different palettes, it becomes a process of trying to keep track of which swatches belong to which palettes.   

 

If anyone has found an easy way to manage swatches and palettes, please share.