Expert: Amy - 8/10/2009

Question
I'm using 24 swatches from Yellow to Purple and Gray from the Pantone Solid Coated color book at 2 different levels of intensity of chroma for printing on paper.

First option. I want all colors to have the same lightness level of 55. Does that mean I simply move the L slider on the Lab color mode to 55 for each color?

Second Option. I want all colors to be at half the intensity of chroma they are in the first option, but with the same L value of 55. I think that means removing half the chroma and replacing it with Gray that has the same L value. Does this mean I need to move the S and B sliders in the HSB color mode? If so, by how much?

I also want to use Gray at L=55. What's the best way to do that?

I'm using CS3 on a PC.

Answer
Hi Laurie,

1) If by lightness, you mean a 55% screen/tint of the PMS solid color, just move the Color slider bar to 55. When working with PMS, the color bar is a tint bar. If you edit the LAB of the swatch, you'll be changing the Pantone mix and the results will be hard to predict. I mean, you can do that, of course, but unless your monitor is closely calibrated with your device, you'll be shooting in the dark.

2) I would do what you are asking by overlaying a black object over your 55% tint and change the percentage of the black object and the Blending mode and opacity of the black object using the transparency window. Be sure to work in Soft Proof and Overprint Preview.

3) Gray at 55, meaning black at 55? Just move the black slide bar in the CMYK color window to 55.

Laurie, I do not usually work in LAB on Illustrator, only PhotoShop, so if this does not help you, I apologize. This is the way I would do it, instead of editing PMS mixes. I hope this helps a little!

-Amy