How to Assign an ICC Profile in Photoshop

How to Assign an ICC Profile in Photoshop

When should I "Assign" a color?

This is a great tool to give you a better idea of the color that Nonstop Printing can target. It's also a decent starting point to increase color gamut if you're starting from sRGB.

For RGB images we target either sRGB or Adobe RGB.
For CMYK elements, we target Gracol 2013 CRCP6 only. It's very similar to Coated Gracol 2006 if you do not want to install the ICC profile on your computer. How to install Gracol 2013 CRCP6

How to "Assign" a ICC in Photoshop

Note: you can also do it from inDesign by right clicking on the link and clicking "Edit in Photoshop"
  1. Right click on the element you want to work on and click "Open In" and select photoshop.
  2. If you have "High Color Awareness" on then it may notify you that you have a profile mismatch like below. We typically select "Use the embedded profile" as a starting point. Then click OK.
  3. At the top go to "Edit" - "Assign to profile..." Once you select it, a dialogue should open up like below.
  4. Check the "Preivew" Box. Do you notice a change? For our example you see the orange walls and the overall image warm up.
    This may not happen with your image if your image started from a similar color space. For example, if you do it from Display P3 to Adobe, you may not notice much of of a difference because the color space is so similar. 
  5. At this point you have to decide which one you want to use as a starting point. In general, assigning an image to Adobe RGB makes the image look more punchy, but you lose color neutrality and nuanced details in shadows and gradients. 

    If you want the punchiness but want to make adjustments, choose Adobe RGB and then manuall adjust curves or contrast afterwards. Going to Adobe RGB as a starting point will give you the potential to have the widest color range while also maintaining shadows but it takes more work.
  6. Click OK once you make your selection.
You're not quite finished! You need to export the image the correct way for the "Assign" to carry with the file.