PANTONE

Pantone is a standardised colour reproduction system, which uses the Pantone number codes to identify colours, which can be specifically used for printing. The most commonly referenced colours are the Pantone solids palette, which consist of 1,100 colours which each have its own individual reference number. The palette was originally created to help designers and printers control colours, so that they stay the same for their print projects.

Mixing CMYK inks can remake some of the pantone colours, however others must be pre-mixed inks. Pantone has guides for their spot colours called solid ink colours. Samples in the process guides are therefore colours achievable through mixing CMYK inks. A guide can also show you the spot colour and also how it will look when it is printed in CMYK. This is because then if spot colours cannot be used, close colours may be mixed in whilst doing it.

The PMS (Pantone Matching System) system uses pre-determined, published colour formulas to form a number of ink colours. The pantone colour chart is quite similar to the paint swatch guides. Making a pantone spot colour is like mixing the colours red and blue to create purple however with much more precision.