Pantone Colors, Printing pdf...

[Michelle G]

I'm looking for help learning how to create and print documents with consistent colors.  I'm not even sure where to begin to look and a friend recommended this site.   If this is not the right place to ask, I would appreciate any ideas on where to start learning.  

For reference - I'm a self-taught photographer and feel pretty comfortable shooting, editing and printing photos/canvases/and the like, but this is a whole new category for me.  I have worked with Photoshop, Lightroom and the like for many years.  And I love making graphics.  Because of that my work asked me to step in and take over document creation: schedules/signage/social media graphics...

I am trying to work with the schedule created by the previous person in this post.  I have no idea what color space he was working in originally.   And although I was given the specific Pantone colors for the business logos, when I open those colors on my system they do NOT match the company colors.     When I open previously created pdf files to make edits as the class schedule changes, they no longer print in the correct color.  

To help remedy the situation I am recreating all documents from scratch.  But - Honestly, I'm not even sure if I'm using the correct program (currently using EXCEL) to create the spreadsheet schedules and loading graphics (logos) into there.  

That is a LONG question.  I would appreciate any starting point advice you have to offer to help me keep this job.  I'm about to print a 9 foot x 25 foot banner and I *really* want to figure this all out first. 

Edited January 15, 2020 by Michelle G

[Damien Symonds]

Hi Michelle, do you have Adobe InDesign?

[Michelle G]

Hi there Damien.  I do not have that one.  

 

[Damien Symonds]

Bummer.  That's really what you need.

So is Photoshop the only Adobe program you have?

[Michelle G]

After your comment last night I downloaded the free trial to test it out.  I currently just have the basic photography monthly plan with adobe (LR and PS).  Adding InDesign is an additional $20+/month.  I'm not sure I can justify the cost, but I'm testing it out anyway.  The learning curve on this program is steep.  Some things are very similar to PS, but other things not at all.  

The current document - I *finally* got the color to print correctly by creating the graphics in PS, the spreadsheet part in EXCEL, adding the graphics into EXCEL and then downloading the whole thing as a PDF from EXCEL and then moving it all back into PS to create the multi page PDF that will print correctly.  Sounds ridiculous, I'm sure.  If I can figure out the learning curve on InDesign I will go that direction.  

Thank you for your help.  

[Damien Symonds]

3 hours ago, Michelle G said:

The current document - I *finally* got the color to print correctly by creating the graphics in PS, the spreadsheet part in EXCEL, adding the graphics into EXCEL and then downloading the whole thing as a PDF from EXCEL and then moving it all back into PS to create the multi page PDF that will print correctly.  Sounds ridiculous, I'm sure.

Well, no.  Complicated, but I agree with your process.  If all you have is Excel and Photoshop, it kinda has to be that way I guess.