Global Swatches & Color Groups

Global swatches allow for easy updating of colors in your Illustrator artwork. Look for the white triangle in the corner, and the tint slider on the Color panel to identify global color swatches in your document.

Here’s a 1.5 minute video with a quick demonstration of why Global colors are so useful.

Global Swatches & Color Groups in Adobe Illustrator

To make a swatch global, double-click it in the Swatches panel, and in the Swatch Options dialog box, check Global.

Global Swatches:

  • Display a white triangle in the corner

  • Have a single tint slider in the Color Panel that allows you to lighten the color

  • Can be edited by double-clicking the swatch. Any color changes you make to the swatch will update every object in your document where the swatch is applied

To create a group of Global swatches from your art, select the art, then click the folder button at the bottom of the Swatches Panel and in the New Color Group dialog box, check Convert Process to Global.

When you create swatches from selected art, they appear as a Color Group in your Swatches panel

Color Groups:

  • Are folders of color swatches that help organize your Swatches panel

  • Allow you to use the Recolor Artwork feature in Illustrator most efficiently

  • With 5 colors, are called Color Themes and can be used in the Adobe Capture app, CC Libraries, and on color.adobe.com

These are just some of the topics I cover in my Recolor Artwork course inside the membership.


 
 

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How to Use Recolor Artwork in Illustrator