Pantone colour (PMS)

Example

A brand with a red mark orders three things at once: cartons in unbleached board, gloss folders and self-adhesive labels on white film. Break that red into four process inks and the carton comes out brickier than the folder, because brown board absorbs differently. Mixed to a number, all three carry the same red, and the printer has an objective test at delivery: the colour is that number or it is not.

Why it matters for a business

Pantone is a catalogue of recipes. Each number is an ink mixed in advance, rather than a pattern of dots built from four. A few practical consequences follow:

• The letter after the number says what the colour was measured on: C for coated stock, U for uncoated. The same number looks different on the two.
• Every mixed colour takes its own unit on the press. On a long two-colour run that often works out cheaper than full colour; on a short run the setup weighs more than the saving.
• Not every number can be reproduced in process colour. The bridge catalogues show how far a conversion drifts, and that is the moment to decide whether the brand needs a mixed ink.
• Catalogues fade. A printer matching to a ten-year-old book is matching to something else.
• Since 2022 the libraries no longer come bundled with Adobe applications and need a separate licence. That is a question for the studio and the printer, not for you.

Brand rules should list, for every colour, the mixed-ink number, the process values and the screen values, so nobody has to guess which one belongs on which job.

What to ask

• How many colours does the design carry, and does this material need a mixed ink at all?
• Which catalogue does the printer match against, and how old is it?
• How does the colour behave on unbleached board, on film and on textile — is a separate number needed for each?
• What do the brand rules say for the same colour on screen?

Preparing mixed colours for a specific material is part of our packaging and labels work.