Add your colour palette to your design tool

When you have made a colour palette for your poster, for example in Coolors or in the Adobe Color tool, it is handy to add this to your design tool of choice, so that you easily can apply the colours to your poster design. It is described for a couple of (design) tools. What you need is your colour palette, the hex-values or CMYK values of the colours, and your design tool.

unsplash-image

Add your colour palette in...

Adobe Illustrator

  1. In Adobe Illustrator, open your design file.
  2. Go to the top navigation bar > Window > Swatches.
  3. On your screen you will now see the Swatches panel. Make a new colour group in which you can add your colour palette. You can do this by selecting the 'New Color Group' icon on the bottom of the panel.
  4. Give your Colour Group a name and click OK.
  5. Select the plus symbol on the bottom of the panel.
  6. A new popup panel opens, called 'New Swatch'.
  7. Give your colour swatch a name (optional).
  8. In 'Color Type' choose 'Process Color'.
  9. Check 'Global'.
  10. Color Mode: CMYK.
  11. Add the C, M, Y and K values.
  12. Click OK.
  13. Repeat step 5-12 for all the colours in your palette. All swatches are automatically added to your colour group. If not, drag them to the Colour Group folder.

Microsoft PowerPoint

  1. In PowerPoint, open your design file.
  2. Select an object or text on your poster. If you have not put anything on the poster design yet, add a text block or shape (Home > Shape; later you can delete this)
  3. Select the shape, in the 'Shape Format' tab, select the dropdown arrow besides 'Shape Fill'.
  4. Select 'More Fill Colours'.
  5. A popup panel opens, select 'CMYK Sliders'.
  6. Fill in the CMYK-values for your colour.
  7. The colour is shown in the bottom left of the panel. Drag this colour to the empty fields next to the colour (next to the inkdropper icon).
  8. Repeat steps 5-7 for all your colours.

Canva

  1. Go to canva.com/brand.
  2. Under 'Brand Colours', click on 'Add and explore palettes'.
  3. Select 'Add a custom palette'.
  4. Give your palette a name.
  5. Click on the + sign under your palette name and add a colour by filling in the hex-value (a 6 digit value, with an # in front of it).
  6. Repeat step 5 for all your colours.