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Working with Pantone colors - palette annoyance


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Not really a bug, but more of an annoyance: If you know your Pantone color already, how would you find the right number in the palette? There is no way to put in a number, colors are in a chaotic order. Not perfect. Of course I could select just any color and name it as I wish. Please have a second look at the palette. It would be also quite handy that a color takes it's name from the selected Pantone color. At the moment I have to name it manually.

More of a major problem is that I have no way to find out, how colors really overprint. There is no separation previews, where I can see if an element has the right color separation  and is overprinted as I wish. I don't know how you work, but this is needed for everyday print production. Only in CMYK/RGB work I could imagine to not needing it nowadays. But with spot colors?

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The Swatches panel has a search box at the bottom - type the number you are looking for, and make sure you are in the correct swatch (coated / uncoated etc).

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Are you wanting to add a Pantone colour as a global colour? if so try choosing the Pantone colour and then adding it. You can also view the swatches as a list

1433364568_ScreenShot2019-06-20at8_50_42AM.png.079d8f10b36e217fb2146b7eb55bffa6.png

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I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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Hi ericGa,

The colour palettes are one area where I personally feel a major overhaul is needed as the way they currently function is relatively unintuitive, cumbersome and restricted. I'm hoping now Publisher has been released and once the dust settles on the bug front that some focus is placed on refining areas which are currently not so strong across the apps, colour palettes being one of them. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the suite of apps and use them daily for commercial work, I just feel now is a time for some further refinement so they can go from being amazing to even more amazing :-)

With regards your issue I agree, the current behaviour makes little sense, you select a Pantone colour by clicking on it and for some reason, a new Document Palette is automatically created and the Pantone colour added as a Global Colour, why? If you click on a second Pantone colour that behaviour is not repeated!

To add additional colours to this newly, if unrequested palette you can return to the Pantone swatches and then select another swatch, then select your document palette from the drop down and click one of the two icons to the right of the Palette name, the first adds the selected swatch using the Pantone Name, the second icon adds the colour as a Global Colour but it is crazy having to switch between the Pantone Swatch and your Document Palette constantly to add colours to your Document Palette one by one.

swatches.jpg.06e295d5c32bfab5b9557dd80ae215a0.jpg

Improvements I'd Like to See to Colour Palette Functionality in All Three Affinity Apps

  1. I would like to see the ability to Shift and/or Cmd/Ctrl-click multiple swatches from any of the colour palettes, right click and select 'Add to Palette' with the option to select which palette you'd like to add the swatches too and once added for those colours to retain their correct name, e.g. Pantone Colour Name.
  2. Global colours added to a palette should retain their default name if for example a Pantone or named colour, rather than being called Global Colour 1 etc., which is meaningless and simply results in you then having to laboriously rename the global colours by their actual name, again, why?
  3. When importing an AD, AP, APub, PDF, EPS or SVG file into any of the three apps, for a default document colour palette to be created that includes the colours used in the imported file, so if you for example import a PDF or EPS file that has been generated in InDesign or any other software, a new document colour palette should automatically be created that includes the imported colours and lists them correctly by name/Pantone Name. I'm pretty sure Illustrator and InDesign do this but it's a long time since I used either.

These would be my ideals for starters, I think there are many other improvements that can and will hopefully be made to the colour palettes over time...

Anyone else have suggestions they'd like to see?

 

 

 

 

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Thanks guys, just found the search field in list view. Coming from Indesign this is not very intuitive. But yes, it kind of works.
I'd love to see a preview for overprinting/separation to work safely with spot colors. Hope this will come soon.

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Hi fde101,

Completely agree, being able to have multiple palettes open at the same time with the ability to drag and drop between palettes to create custom palettes would be perfect and simplify things immensely.

I'd still like to see functionality where imported vector files automatically generate a custom palette (or you have the option to create a custom palette if you want to) using the colours from the imported document correctly labelled and with the correct colour space.

I'm aware you can use the 'Create Palette from Document' feature but for some reason, the colours are not added to the colour palette using their respective name or the correct colour space, e.g., as Pantone colours using the correct the Pantone Names, even though Affinity recognises the colours correctly when selected in the layers panel.

It would also be helpful if this functionality allowed the option to add and correctly label the colours as global colours... and there is so much more that could and hopefully will be improved regarding colour management, e.g. if you edit a fill colour from a colour palette and select 'Pantone Swatch', you can't currently view the Pantone Swatches in list view or search the swatch panel...

Affinity Designer 2.4.1.2344 | Affinity Photo 2.4.1.2344 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.1.2344
Affinity Designer 1.7.3 | Affinity Photo 1.7.3 | Affinity Publisher 1.10.8
MacBook Pro 16GB, macOS Monterey 12.6.8, Magic Mouse

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21 hours ago, Hangman said:

Hi ericGa,

The colour palettes are one area where I personally feel a major overhaul is needed as the way they currently function is relatively unintuitive, cumbersome and restricted. I'm hoping now Publisher has been released and once the dust settles on the bug front that some focus is placed on refining areas which are currently not so strong across the apps, colour palettes being one of them. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the suite of apps and use them daily for commercial work, I just feel now is a time for some further refinement so they can go from being amazing to even more amazing :-)

With regards your issue I agree, the current behaviour makes little sense, you select a Pantone colour by clicking on it and for some reason, a new Document Palette is automatically created and the Pantone colour added as a Global Colour, why? If you click on a second Pantone colour that behaviour is not repeated!

To add additional colours to this newly, if unrequested palette you can return to the Pantone swatches and then select another swatch, then select your document palette from the drop down and click one of the two icons to the right of the Palette name, the first adds the selected swatch using the Pantone Name, the second icon adds the colour as a Global Colour but it is crazy having to switch between the Pantone Swatch and your Document Palette constantly to add colours to your Document Palette one by one.

swatches.jpg.06e295d5c32bfab5b9557dd80ae215a0.jpg

Improvements I'd Like to See to Colour Palette Functionality in All Three Affinity Apps

  1. I would like to see the ability to Shift and/or Cmd/Ctrl-click multiple swatches from any of the colour palettes, right click and select 'Add to Palette' with the option to select which palette you'd like to add the swatches too and once added for those colours to retain their correct name, e.g. Pantone Colour Name.
  2. Global colours added to a palette should retain their default name if for example a Pantone or named colour, rather than being called Global Colour 1 etc., which is meaningless and simply results in you then having to laboriously rename the global colours by their actual name, again, why?
  3. When importing an AD, AP, APub, PDF, EPS or SVG file into any of the three apps, for a default document colour palette to be created that includes the colours used in the imported file, so if you for example import a PDF or EPS file that has been generated in InDesign or any other software, a new document colour palette should automatically be created that includes the imported colours and lists them correctly by name/Pantone Name. I'm pretty sure Illustrator and InDesign do this but it's a long time since I used either.

These would be my ideals for starters, I think there are many other improvements that can and will hopefully be made to the colour palettes over time...

Anyone else have suggestions they'd like to see?

 

 

 

A big +1. I really hate the way Affinity handles colours. Not sure why it has to be so difficult. They really need to take some cues from Adobe who have refined many things over the year. I am sure a bit part of it is I do not use the affinities a whole lot despite owning them all I stick with the industry standard and what I am used to Adobe CC. If I drop in a PDF with spot colours or pantones I would like to see those automatically added to a pallet. I am trying to do a bit more with Affinity just to better familiarize myself, but this is one thing I have never liked with Designer or Photo and now Publisher. Really needs a change to something simpler. 

Should have a document pallet that has all colours used in the document, should have a separate pallet for the pantone library and others. The current setup seems overly complex for something that should be quick and simple and not something I should have to give much thought to. 

That being said I would rather have preflight and separations view added first. I can muddle around with the colours and make something work. Not having preflight and separations are another reason I will not switch to Publisher for real work beyond testing and exploring. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 11 months later...

I totally agree with this discussion. I too have problems understanding the color palette, or the use of color in general. It sometimes takes lots of steps to pick a color. I'm sorry, but using the color picker to select a color is so 90s for me. I always hated the early Adobe Illustrator for their color UI, but Affinity Publisher is even worse.

Simple things like copying files from one document to the other doesn't even transport the color over. You have to set up the colors new.
If you import an existing color palette then the colors in the document are not linked and you have to click through the colors to apply them to the color palette. And this discussion about PMS colors says it all. Not very intuitive al all!

I don't know how pro's use Publisher to create print-ready artwork. I have my own design agency (www.stoerebinken.nl) for the last 25 years, and I want to switch to Affinity, but I'm still not really sure. I still use Indesign for print. Affinity is for everything where color and accuracy is not important. 

I think this is one of the least thought-over functionalities but one of the most vital for professional designers. They're not winning me over on the color UI... 

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10 hours ago, Rene Verkaart said:

I totally agree with this discussion. I too have problems understanding the color palette, or the use of color in general. It sometimes takes lots of steps to pick a color. I'm sorry, but using the color picker to select a color is so 90s for me. I always hated the early Adobe Illustrator for their color UI, but Affinity Publisher is even worse.

Simple things like copying files from one document to the other doesn't even transport the color over. You have to set up the colors new.
If you import an existing color palette then the colors in the document are not linked and you have to click through the colors to apply them to the color palette. And this discussion about PMS colors says it all. Not very intuitive al all!

I don't know how pro's use Publisher to create print-ready artwork. I have my own design agency (www.stoerebinken.nl) for the last 25 years, and I want to switch to Affinity, but I'm still not really sure. I still use Indesign for print. Affinity is for everything where color and accuracy is not important. 

I think this is one of the least thought-over functionalities but one of the most vital for professional designers. They're not winning me over on the color UI... 

I would be very careful switching away from the Adobe as they are the standard. A good reputation is hard won and takes years to gain. A few screw ups and issues because the files coming out of an app you are using can dash those hard fought 25 years in a fraction of the time it took you to get there. 

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On 6/21/2019 at 5:24 PM, wonderings said:

Not sure why it has to be so difficult. They really need to take some cues from Adobe who have refined many things over the year. I am sure a bit

IMO it is bellow their level on thinking. They simply ignore Quark's or InDesign's 20+ years of hard work and try to reinvent hot water again. Some features must be done as their big brothers did many years ago -- nothing more, nothing less.

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  • 11 months later...

Ce qui pourrait être intéressant et de faire une distinction entre couleur globale et couleur de ton direct.
La première permet de garder un lien entre objet et couleur, la deuxième aussi mais est imprimée comme couleur d'accompagnement.

Évidemment, pas de séparation et pas de visualisation de la surimpression est très compliqué.

*****

What could be interesting is to make a distinction between global colour and direct tone colour.
The former allows a link between object and colour, the latter also but is printed as a spot colour.
Obviously, no separation and no visualisation of the overlay is very complicated.

Toujours pas !
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On 6/20/2019 at 7:45 PM, Hangman said:

... and once the dust settles on the bug front that some focus is placed on refining...

...two years later and still... 

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  • 3 months later...

Hi, i am trying to migrate Affinity group and having issues with colour palettes.

When i create a palette from a document or an image the colours are added with names "palette 2", "palette 3 or with the document name. What i am expecting is that the colours are added with their colour values either CMYK or RGB.

Additionally when i choose a colour from Pantone catalogue as a spot colour it is added to document palette as global colour 1, global colour 2 etc. Why can not i see the Pantone number of the colour? If i forgot to change the colour name i cannot remember the number and it is really annoying.

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