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CMYK TIFF colors looks different in FreeHand than it does in Photoshop

Here are some tips to solve the problem:

The colors in a CMYK TIFF object placed in a Macromedia FreeHand document are different than expected or different than the same object in another graphics application, such as Adobe Photoshop. The imported TIFF object contains the correct CMYK information, and separations print correctly.

Solution

For better color screen previews of CMYK TIFFs, specify that FreeHand use a different color model for the preview of the object:
FreeHand 7 and above
Access Color preferences. In FreeHand MX, choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or FreeHand MX > Preferences (Macintosh), then select the Colors tab.
In the Color Management section, set Monitor to simulate Separations.
Note: This will slow the screen redraw of the TIFF in the FreeHand Document.
FreeHand 5.x
Use an RGB TIFF in FreeHand for screen color. FreeHand will convert RGB TIFFs to CMYK when printing. The preference is selected in the output dialog found under the file menu or from the print output dialog box.

Notes on color calibration from FreeHand forum

Color calibration
Note: This excerpt from the FreeHand-L is a good account of the current state of color calibration.

Sean McNaughton, a contributor to the FreeHand forum, asked the following:
"The monitor looks about 1000% closer to actual printable colors. The sequel to the issue: I'm having great difficulty getting the profiles for my monitor and our large-format HP plotters. Where do I go to find out more about creating color profiles for our output devices, and about calibrating those for our presses? I've been through Apple's ColorSync Web site and through printer manufacturers', with limited success at best."

In response, Tony Roame, another contributor, provided some information:
Apple's ColorSync, while certainly the best of its type, is by no means a perfect solution. Take monitors for example: an Applevision 1710 has a "typical" profile. But from one 1710 to another there may be a significant change in color. Add to that the contrast, brightness, and color controls may all be set differently. Even if those are the same, ambient room lighting will affect the apparent color on screen.

Color management
Exact color management is an elusive science at best. Unless you have a dedicated color management system with an unchanging, objective point of reference, it is not possible to accurately and consistently control or predict color across multiple devices. Such systems do exist, but they are rather expensive. The ColorBlind 2.1 System and Praxisoft's ColorCompass System, a spectrophotometer and color management training can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Whether or not it is worth it depends on how important accurate color is to you. If you are already familiar with color terms like "Delta E, UCR and GCR" then it may be worth pursuing.

What you get in return for your money is the ability to track "device drift" (change in color over time) with statistical analysis, to create color profiles for any and every device (such as monitors, digital color printers, film recorders, printing presses, scanners, digital cameras, and more), to apply color management to entire postscript files, and to save color corrections as abstract profiles for applying in a batch. These color correction systems also include tar geted color correction for specific output devices, complete handling of both vector and raster files, and too much more to list here.

As you may have guessed, color management is an interest of mine. Without serious tools like these, the closest you can get is just in the general ballpark. Less expensive solutions can take "snapshots" of your current devices, but those will not stay accurate, and they are not objective.

Additional Color Resources
FreeHand certainly is compatible with ColorBlind, and ColorBlind hooks into ColorSync, so you would be taking advantage of the foundation laid by Apple. ColorBlind is a system wide solution that profiles hardware and allows you to control color at each step to match color across devices. If you are interested, there is a great Web site for more information at http://38.187.9.49/pages/products.html.

The other piece mentioned was PraxiSoft's Color Compass. This application works directly with FreeHand. It builds "safe" palettes that you can use in FreeHand, so you pick from colors that you know will print accurately. The PraxiSoft site is not quite as informative, it's at http://www.praxisoft.com/products/cms.html.

After exploring these sites, if you want to take the next step, I would suggest contacting a company in your area that can help you with the installation and training on high level color management.