197: Thou shall utilize color profiles in your workflow

Commentary In order to manage and maintain the color of your artwork files, linked RGB images, and graphics, it’s important to use color profiles and embed them into your work as you carry out any project. These profiles will then link to your color management system (CMS), which maintains color consistency as a project moves from the RGB environment of your computer display to the final CMYK print. At the beginning of any job, I always ask myself a number of questions: How are we printing this? What stock are we using? What is the color composition of the images? All these factors may have an impact on your choice of profile, which in turn plays an important part in maintaining the project’s integrity and appearance. I often speak to the appointed printer and discuss the options available, and ask if they have profiles matched to their own presses which I could use. In doing this, I can then be sure that images embedded with the correct profile will display accurately on screen and the final print will be consistent with visuals. PD