Color, Swatches, and Gradients Flashcards

What is a swatch library in Illustrator?

Answer: A separate collection of preset swatches you can load

Swatch libraries are external or built-in collections of swatches (like Pantone) that can be opened into a document.

Which library would a designer load to match printed spot ink colors?

Answer: A Pantone (PANTONE+) color book

Pantone color books provide standardized spot inks for accurate print color matching.

How do you make a custom set of swatches available in future documents?

Answer: Save them as a swatch library (.ase or AI library)

Saving swatches as a library file lets you load the same colors into any document later.

What does the 'Select All Unused' command in the Swatches panel menu do?

Answer: Highlights swatches not applied to any artwork

Select All Unused finds swatches not used by any object, making cleanup easy before deleting them.

What is a pattern swatch?

Answer: A repeating tile of artwork stored as a fill

A pattern swatch is a tile of artwork that repeats to fill objects.

Which command lets you edit a pattern in an isolated editing mode?

Answer: Object > Pattern > Edit Pattern

Object > Pattern > Edit Pattern opens Pattern Editing mode for adjusting tile and repeat options.

Why might you set a swatch's color mode to global before building a palette?

Answer: So editing the swatch updates all artwork using it instantly

Global swatches propagate edits to every object that uses them, making palette-wide changes effortless.