The Pantone Matching System (PMS) is the
dominant spot-color printing system in the U.S.
Pantone sells guides (known as Pantone books)
and chips for both spot colors and for process
color printing (also known as CMYK, which
stands for the four colors used: cyan, magenta,
yellow, and key/black). For the first-time
purchaser, the number and variety of books can
be overwhelming. Here’s what you need to know
about these swatch books to help you make an
informed buying choice.
by Jacci Howard Bear
Pantone Fan Guides
Somewhat similar to the paint strips you can pick
up at a home improvement store, the fan guides
show blocks of several related colors with the
color name or formula printed beside each color.
The strips are fastened together at one end so
that you can fan out the strips. Printed on coated-,
uncoated-, or matte-finish stock, guides can be
purchased separately or in sets.
Binders and Chips
These swatch books come in three-ring binders
with pages of color blocks. The chips are little
tear-off samples of colors. This format is ideal for
providing samples with your artwork or digital files
so that clients can get a more accurate picture of
how the printed colors in their projects will appear.
A few specialty guides in binders have no tear-off
chips.
Computer Simulation
CMYK printing. The primary process swatch
books contain more than 3,000 Pantone process
colors with their CMYK percentages. The books
are available on coated and uncoated stock and
in SWOP or EURO editions. SWOP is a printing
standard used in the U.S. and Asia. EURO (for
Euroscale) is used in Europe.
Digital Guides
The latest innovation in color guides, digital chips
allow you to match more than 1,000 Pantone spot
colors with their process-color equivalents and the
output from a Xerox DocuColor 6060 digital press.
The tear-out chips are available on coated stock.
Used and Old Swatch Books
The cost of old books is tempting, but new books
are best. Colors fade over time, and old books may
not provide an accurate representation, making
them no more useful for color-matching than your
monitor and inkjet printer. Additionally, Pantone
has made changes over the years that render
some books obsolete. In 2004, the coated and
matte stock used in all guides was updated, which
resulted in some color differences from previous
books.
Pantone color palettes for use with Adobe
Photoshop, InDesign, QuarkXPress, and other
software programs and apps simulate the
appearance of Pantone spot and process colors
(suffixes of CV, CVU, and CVC). These require
your monitor to be properly calibrated; even still,
remember that they are simply simulations. A
printed swatch book is best for color selection and
matching.
Buy 2
get 1
free
Coated, Uncoated, and
Matte Stocks
The type of paper used affects the appearance of
the ink. Swatch books are typically available on
coated, uncoated, and matte stock to more closely
show how the color will look in your application.
Pantone also produces some specialty guides
showing the inks on other surfaces such as foil and
film. Purchase the books or chips on the type of
stock you most commonly use.
Formula/Solid Spot Color
The formula guides and solid chips are the swatch
books for spot color inks. There are more than 1,000
PMS colors and a special guide for converting PMS
colors to their closest matches in CMYK or process
colors. Some specialty guides focus on metallic
colors, pastels, or tints.
Process Color
2018-19
Charles Deluvio
Process guides and process chips help simplify
the selection of process colors for four-color
Lucid Motif Graphic Industry
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