Possibly the most significant change to Illustrator in the update to CS3 is the introduction of Live Color. Adobe has told us how great this new color editing feature is, so as soon as I opened Illustrator CS3 for the first time, I went looking through menus for its name. Palettes, filters, effects… I couldn’t find it! I’ll never understand why it’s hidden under the more bland name “Edit Colors,” but at least I’m beginning to understand how it works.

Let’s look at how to use Live Color, starting with its cousin the Color Guide palette, found in Window > Color Guide. The Color Guide palette helps you choose color harmonies based on whatever main color you choose. For my example, I chose orange as a base, then selected a harmonious palette from the Color Guide. I liked “Complementary 2″ since it gave me a bold punch and enough colors to offer some variation in my design elements.

Once a harmony is selected, the Color Guide works just like other Illustrator swatches: Just select an object and pick a swatch from the palette to apply it. Read the rest of this entry »