Pantone is a color matching system designed to achieve mutual understanding between different people. For example, print customers and printers. On average, the human eye can perceive 150,000 color shades. There is no such number of words for denoting colors in Russian, as in any other. The Pantone standard allows people to point to a numbered swatch and say, "I want this color, numbered so and so."
Pantone (in Russian - pronounced and spelled "pantone", sometimes there is an erroneous spelling "pontoon") is not the first color standardization system that has become widespread. For example, back in 1927, at the suggestion of German manufacturers of paints and varnishes, the RAL standard was approved in Germany. Today this standard is used by manufacturers and sellers of varnishes and paints, allowing buyers to purchase paints of the same color from different places or at different times.
The Pantone standard was developed in 1963 by the American printing company Pantone Inc. The need to develop such a system was associated with the peculiarities of the printing industry.
The subtleties of full-color printing
Printing houses for full-color printing use the process of sequential rolling of printing plates with four colors from the CMYK palette (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). Modern printing equipment allows you to apply a layer of paint of a strictly specified thickness to each point. As a result, depending on the thickness (density) of each ink at each point of the printed sheet, a very wide range of colors can be obtained. For example, you get an eggplant color if you mix 26% cyan, 99% magenta, 12% yellow and 52% black (denoted by the letter “k” in the CMYK palette) at one point. If you look at a color picture printed in a printing house at a high magnification, you can see that each point of the image consists of four points of CMYK colors printed with different densities (thickness of the ink layer). In the human brain, these points merge, which creates the feeling of a particular color shade.
Not every color can be obtained using the technology of sequential application of four CMYK colors. For example, in this way you cannot get fluorescent colors or colors with a metallic sheen: gold, silver, bronze. In addition, the ratio of base inks set in the CMYK palette can give very different colors, depending on the properties of the material on which you are printing. The same CMYK color printed on heavy glossy paper and on loose coated paper will be perceived completely differently, even by people with average color perception. Another problem is that each printing house uses its own inks that comply with the CMYK standard, but can still differ in their properties within the acceptable tolerances. The specialists of each printing company customize their equipment in accordance with the materials used and the characteristics of the printing machines. These problems were tried to be solved by Pantone Inc.
Description of the Pantone system
The color scale in the Pantone standard is based on 14 base paints, which are mixed to obtain the desired shade, and only then - already in the form of a finished color - are applied to the material. This color is called spot or spot color. To select a specific spot color, Pantone developed samples coated with a uniform thickness of a specific pre-mixed paint. By using Pantone color swatches, the customer can be confident that they will be understood correctly and require the final color match, regardless of how the printing equipment is set up and what paints and materials are used. In fact, the Pantone standard made it possible to shift typography problems from the client's shoulders to the shoulders of the specialists.
Each printing house has its own tables for converting Pantone color values to CMYK colors, taking into account the materials used, paints and equipment features. If it is necessary to print a color that is impossible or very difficult to obtain in CMYK, the printing house can prepare the corresponding ink separately and roll the printed sheet an additional time only with this ink, having previously left a place on it for the selected color. This often happens when printing branded materials (packaging, advertising materials), which use a unique color invented by marketers to increase brand awareness. Spot colors are also used where it is important to make counterfeiting as difficult as possible. For example, when printing money and securities.
Using Pantone
Printing in pure pantone color increases the cost of circulation, but sometimes it can save you money. For example, when you need to make a print run of two-color products. One of the colors, for example, black is for the text, and the other is a blended color for the logo or headings. In this case, the use of a pre-prepared pantone color will allow you to print a print run in two passes (black and pantone) instead of the standard four.
For the convenience of choosing and comparing colors, Pantone Inc produced their samples on 15 x 5 cm thick paper pieces. Today it is customary to collect collections of Pantone color samples in piles and staple them in a corner. It turns out a fan that is convenient to carry with you, without worrying that some cards will get lost. Each color swatch card is printed with its Pantone catalog number. This allows you to unambiguously determine the color during remote negotiations (for example, by phone).
In 2007, Pantone Inc acquired X-Rite Inc, which specializes in the design and manufacture of color management hardware and software, and X-Rite Inc manufactures equipment for calibrating cameras and monitors to various color standards.
X-Rite Inc is a major manufacturer of pantone fans today. They offer panton fans in several modifications. The basic set includes fans for glossy and offset papers. Cards are printed with CMYK color ratios to obtain the appropriate shade on printing equipment. Pantone color sets are also available with codes printed on each card for matching this color to colors from other standards. For example, reference books with the translation of Pantone colors into the RGB palette, used as a standard for screen colors, are in demand.
Do I need to buy a pantone fan?
Pantone branded guide fans are not cheap. So, for example, a set of color guides (fans) Color Bridge Set Coated & Uncoated (Pantone translation in CMYK, glossy + uncoated paper) costs 24,990 rubles. Pantone Inc recommends that fans be renewed annually due to the fact that the color on the reference card can fade over the course of a year. From time to time, Pantone Inc adds new colors to their guides. The last addition was in 2016 when the Pantone guide was expanded with 112 new colors. It now contains 1,867 spot colors.
Despite the fact that the majority of designers and printers in the USA and all European countries are guided by the Pantone standard, in practice you can encounter other color standardization systems. The aforementioned RAL standard and the corresponding fan guides are used by manufacturers of building paints and, accordingly, in stores where paint of a specific color shade can be made on the spot by the customer's order. In companies that produce printing products on Japanese equipment, reference books of standards can be used. It is customary for Swedish, Norwegian and Spanish companies to use the NCS color standard.
Buying a pantone or other fan guide is justified for printing companies and those who are professionally engaged in design or regularly produce large orders in printing houses. Ordinary customers are better off choosing colors according to the guides provided directly by the company where the order will be placed.
