Specle Colour
Specle Colour is:
A high-quality colour conversion system that ensures consistency across all of your advertising.
A file correction system that automatically amends your ads to match publisher standards.
As a cloud-based product, Specle Colour integrates into the normal Specle workflow to automatically colour-convert and amend files. Specle Colour converts from both RGB and CMYK when the PDF/X output intent is set to Coated FOGRA39, ISO Coated v2, ISO Coated v2 300%, or US Web Coated SWOP. If no output intent is set, ISO Coated v2 is assumed.
To start using Specle Colour email sales@specle.net or call us on +44 (0) 207 871 3555.
The Specle Colour Workflow
As outlined below, Specle Colour automates the majority of the manual production process. With Specle Colour, you simply need to size your artwork correctly, export every ad with the default settings, and upload to Specle.
How to Get The Best Result Using Specle Colour
1. Set your global colour settings for all operators and designers in both Adobe Photoshop & Adobe InDesign by clicking on Edit > Colour Settings.
You can use the built-in setting called Europe General Purpose 3 (or North America General Purpose 2 if you are based in the US). This will set your RGB working space to sRGB IEC61966-2.1 and CMYK working space to Coated FOGRA39 (ISO 12647-2:2004) for Europe.
However, we recommend installing and using ISO Coated v2 as your CMYK working space, as it has a higher ink weight. This means you have a few more levels of colour to work with. Both CMYK profiles are based on the FOGRA39L dataset.Â
Click here to download ISO Coated v2 (ECI) and install it following these instructions. Then set this up by clicking Edit > Colour Settings and changing the CMYK working space.
All of your InDesign documents will now have the working space you set assigned to the document by default. You do not need to modify any settings. Please note that old documents may still have previous profiles assigned to them, so ensure that you check this when working with older files.
2. Download the PDF Preset SpeclePDFX4, and install by clicking File>Adobe PDF Preset>Define>Load in InDesign.
Setting this as the Adobe PDF Preset changes the PDF Standard to PDF/X-4:2010 to maintain transparency and RGB elements. Specle Colour will automatically flatten the file and convert both CMYK vector elements and RGB images to the correct profile. Maintaining transparency in the file also means that spot colour conversion is more reliable.
Using the PDF preset SpeclePDFX4 when exporting, sets the Destination to Coated FOGRA39, or ISO Coated v2 if you have installed this. Use Document Bleed Settings will also be ticked using the bleed settings you have set up in the InDesign document, under File>Document Setup.
