Go to the Adobe Help link
http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/InDesign/5.0/
To make colors using the Swatches Panel, go to Color>Working with Swatches>Create color swatches>Create a new color swatch.
To select a color with the Color Picker, go to Color>Applying Color>Select a Color with the Color Picker.
To create a Pantone or Spot color.....
1. Choose New Color Swatch in the Swatches panel menu.
2. For Color Type, choose Spot.
3. For Swatch Name, type a Swatch Name, such as Hillwood Green.
4. For Color Mode, choose Pantone solid to process. Note: Very Important. We are using “Pantone to solid process” as an example for this exercise. If you are using Pantone colors, ask the company that will be printing your project whether you should use this or one of the other Pantone options. Avoid changing the mode after you define a color.
5. In the blank window to the right the word PANTONE, type in the number of the Pantone Color that is the color you want. Hillwood Green, for example, is 355. You would probably need a Pantone Color Formula Guide to pick this color accurately.
6. Click OK to add the swatch and exit the dialog box.
Note: If you have made a mistake with your new color, you can get rid of it. Click once on it to highlight it and then click on the trash can icon in the lower right hand corner of the Swatches panel.
Color is tricky. The color you see on your computer screen is not necessarily the color you will get when you get a brochure printed by a commercial printing company or when you print out something you create on an ink jet printer at your school or at home.
If you are going to work with a commercial printer, talk to the company, tell them that you are using InDesign to create the artwork, and ask them how to proceed before you put a lot of time in the artwork.
You will probably be dealing with two broad types of colors. They will be colors that can be printed and colors that will be viewed on a computer monitor, such as on a web site. In the digital world, they are described and identified using something called color models. There are three different color models or types of colors.
• Colors that are going to be viewed on a computer monitor or a PowerPoint presentation are called RGB.
• Colors that may be printed are usually two types. These are process colors and spot colors.
Process colors are ink colors that are used to print four color on a printing press. Full color magazines and brochures are examples of for color process printing.
Spot colors are often used to print things like T-shirts, but could also be used to print posters and signs. Spot colors are usually used to print something using one or two colors.
These colors may be identified using formulas, much like the formulas to mix colors when you go buy house paint. You go to the paint store and pick a color swatch. Then someone mixes the color for you.
