How to use photoshop file in Indesign for print (having Pantone colors)

I have a question for you guys... :)

I have Pantone Colors in my photoshop files. However, I am also using Indesign to do final composing and exporting of the design.

I was wondering what is the best way to export file from Indesign to ensure Pantone colors in Pantone is embedded. Any setting I need to check??

Thank you

L.

Answer

If your PSD contains any vector information, don't place it in the InDesign layout. Save as a PDF instead, and place the PDF. The reason for this is that a placed PSD is always a raster image in InDesign, because Id uses the raster layer that Photoshop saves within the PSD. A PDF retains all the vector information and makes it available to InDesign. A quick test will demonstrate the difference. I discussed this point here a while back.

Note that a Smart Object, even if the image it contains is a vector, always exports as a raster image, even to PDF, so create text and vectors as actual text or shape layers.

There are some peculiarities that you must be aware of:

• 
  

  Spot colors must be Spot Channels (New Spot Channel from the Channels Panel flyout menu). Simply assigning a PMS color to an object in a regular Photoshop layer results in an RGB representation of the color; it won't show up as a spot color in any other application.

  
  
  


• 
  

  Spot color channel data in a Photoshop PDF will not show up in InDesign unless you turn on 'Overprint Preview` from the View menu. The PMS swatches will appear in the Swatches Panel, though.

  
  


• 
  

  Because spot colors can only be transferred from Photoshop [to the PDF] to InDesign as spot channels, which are always raster, the PDF technique won't help with PMS text or vectors. Create spot color text or vector graphics in InDesign.