I have selected a Pantone spot colour for my logo and now need to save the file as a jpeg which will be used for the web. How can I make sure that I get the closest match for the pantone color when I save my illustrator file as a jpeg.
The problem with saving any image as a jpeg is that jpeg is a "lossy" format that may change your colours. You're probably better off using a GIF (limited to 256 colours per image), or a PNG (not limited, but less widely supported among browsers). If you have to use a jpeg, set it's compression level to as low a value as you can get away with.
I have a follow up question: If I convert the pantone color to websafe rgb, the color is ok on screen however when I then print it becomes much lighter. Is this just the nature of the beast or is there a way to have the color remain fairly consistent when someone later wants to print the logo from the web?
Pantone colors follow the professional printing ink colors, which more closey follow CMYK. Any "web safe" color will always be RGB because your monitor cannot display anything but RGB. So, the problem you have is that printing house inks have been around a lot longer than computers and what you have managed to get is a close approximation for your screen display. As far as printing your logo on an inkjet printer and it being "lighter" in color tones, this is just a matter of not having your monitor "color balanced" with whatever graphics application you used to create your logo. And not all graphics applications allow your to match your monitor with RGB colors and your printer. In all likelyhood, you'll end up with a logo to print (for letterhead and other business forms) and one for the web.
There's always a better way. The fun is trying to find it!
Exactly what tviman said. It's a matter of calibration between the various output devices (in this case your screen and your printer). You may be able to match a decent solution for *your* set up... but as soon as another computer system is used... then you have no control over how they are calibrated.
I have always gone for a web variant, and a "personal print" variant (that is designed to print on an inkjet or a colour laser). You might also want to consider a black and white variant that is suitable for faxing (nothing worse than receiving a fax with just a block of black for a logo).
This does a number of conversions to RGB, which can be very handy when you have clients who want to match their building paint colour to their web site colour. Hey, it happened here this week. Also does palette matching stuff if you're stumped for creative.
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