u/Takotakon

Colors don't look right in Indesign when going from Ai to Id

Hi everyone,

I'm having a color-management issue between Adobe Illustrator and InDesign and I'm trying to understand how much it'll be inpatting my final print.

I created a CMYK color palette in Illustrator and imported it into InDesign via .ASE
When I use it in Illustrator in a CMYK file I'm not having any issues but as soon as I use it in a Indesign file the colors just don't look the same (yes my Indesign file is CMYK).

E.g., for the Black I'm using I have exactly the same CMYK values in both applications, but:

  • Illustrator: C0 M0 Y0 K95 → displays as #2E2D2D
  • Indesign: C0 M0 Y0 K95 → displays as #282727

The difference is quite noticeable even though the CMYK values are identical.

Both programs are using Coated FOGRA39 as color profile.

My main concern is: which appearance should I trust for printing? Is it just a preview error from Indesign?

Can someone help me?

p.s. I also exported the Id file in pdf but it didn't fix the issue.

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u/Takotakon — 3 days ago