Pantone Inc. is a corporation headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey.^[1] The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color space used in a variety of industries, primarily printing, though sometimes in the manufacture of colored paint, fabric, and plastics.

In October 2007, X-Rite Inc, a supplier of color measurement instruments and software, purchased Pantone Inc for $180 million.^[2]

Overview[link]

Pantone began as a commercial printing company in the 1950s. In 1956, they hired recent Hofstra University graduate Lawrence Herbert as a part-time employee. Herbert used his chemistry knowledge to systematize and simplify the company's stock of pigments and production of colored inks; by 1962, Herbert was running the ink and printing division at a profit, while the commercial-display division was $50,000 in debt; he subsequently purchased the company's technological assets from his employers and renamed them "Pantone".^[3]

The company's primary products include the Pantone Guides, which consist of a large number of small (approximately 6×2 inches or 15×5 cm) thin cardboard sheets, printed on one side with a series of related color swatches and then bound into a small "fan deck". For instance, a particular "page" might contain a number of yellows of varying tints.

The idea behind the PMS is to allow designers to "color match" specific colors when a design enters production stage, regardless of the equipment used to produce the color. This system has been widely adopted by graphic designers and reproduction and printing houses for a number of years now. Pantone recommends that PMS Color Guides be purchased annually, as their inks become yellowish over time.^[4] Color variance also occurs within editions based on the paper stock used (coated, matte or uncoated), while interedition color variance occurs when there are changes to the specific paper stock used.^[5]

Pantone Color Matching System[link]

A Solid Matte Formula Guide from Pantone, 2005 edition.

The Pantone Color Matching System is largely a standardized color reproduction system. By standardizing the colors, different manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone system to make sure colors match without direct contact with one another.

One such use is standardizing colors in the CMYK process. The CMYK process is a method of printing color by using four inks — cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. A majority of the world's printed material is produced using the CMYK process, and there is a special subset of Pantone colors that can be reproduced using CMYK .^{[citation needed]} Those that are possible to simulate through the CMYK process are labeled as such within the company's guides.

However, most of the Pantone system's 1,114 spot colors cannot be simulated with CMYK but with 13 base pigments (15 including white and black) mixed in specified amounts.^[6]

The Pantone system also allows for many special colors to be produced, such as metallics and fluorescents. While most of the Pantone system colors are beyond the printed CMYK gamut, it was only in 2001 that Pantone began providing translations of their existing system with screen-based colors. (Screen-based colors use the RGB color model — red, green, blue — system to create various colors.)^[7] The Goe system has RGB and LAB values with each color.^[8]

Pantone colors are described by their allocated number (typically referred to as, for example, "PMS 130"). PMS colors are almost always used in branding and have even found their way into government legislation and military standards (to describe the colors of flags and seals)^[9]. In January 2003, the Scottish Parliament debated a petition (reference PE512) to refer to the blue in the Scottish flag (saltire) as "Pantone 300". Countries such as Canada and South Korea and organizations such as the FIA have also chosen to refer to specific Pantone colors to use when producing flags. U.S. states including Texas have set legislated PMS colors of their flags.^[10]

Pantone Goe System[link]

On September 5, 2007 Pantone introduced the Goe System.^[11] Goe consists of over 2,000 new colors in a brand new matching and numbering system. In addition to the standard swatch books (now called the GoeGuide), the new system also includes adhesive-backed GoeSticks, interactive software, tools, and an online community where users are able to share color swatches and information.

The Goe system is streamlined to use fewer base colors (10 + Clear coating for reflections) and accommodates many technical challenges in reproducing colors on a press.^[6]

Other products[link]

In mid-2006 Pantone, partnering with Vermont-based Fine Paints of Europe, introduced a new line of interior and exterior paints. The color palette uses Pantone's color research and trending and has more than 3000 colors.

Color of the Year[link]

Annually Pantone declares a particular color "Color of the Year". Twice a year the company hosts, in a European capital, a secret meeting of representatives from various nations' color standards groups. After two days of presentations and debate, they choose a color for the following year; for example, the color for summer 2013 was chosen in London in the spring of 2012.^[12] The color purportedly connects with the zeitgeist; for example the press release declaring Honeysuckle the color of 2011 said "In times of stress, we need something to lift our spirits. Honeysuckle is a captivating, stimulating color that gets the adrenaline going – perfect to ward off the blues."^[13] The results of the meeting are published in Pantone View ($750), which fashion designers, florists, and many other consumer-oriented companies purchase to help guide their designs and planning for future products.^[12]

In 2012, the color of the year, Tangerine Tango, was used to create a makeup line, in partnership with Sephora.^[15] The product line named Sephora + Pantone Universe collection, features Tangerine Tango–embellished false lashes; nail lacquers, cream, glitters, and high-pigment lip glosses.^[16]

Intellectual property[link]

Pantone asserts that their lists of color numbers and pigment values are the intellectual property of Pantone and free use of the list is not allowed,^[17] however copyright law does not support such a claim.^[18] This is frequently held as a reason why Pantone colors cannot be supported in Open Source software such as GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) and are not often found in low-cost software.^[19] Pantone palettes supplied by printer manufacturers can be obtained freely, and, depending on supplier, do not come with usage restrictions beyond a sales ban on hard copies of the palette.

Pantone also produces Hexachrome, a patented six-color printing system.^[20][21]

See also[link]

• Color chart, other color systems and charts
• Database right (copyright protection of databases in the EU)
• Natural Color System (NCS), Munsell color system, and other proprietary color spaces where most consumers use swatches to make color decisions; unlike Pantone, these systems are based on underlying color models rather than pigment mixtures.
• Process color
• RAL (color space system)
• Spot color

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Informal discussion of intellectual property rights, including Pantone (search article)
• Spot colors Pantone spot color vs. CMYK
• Pantone Formula Guide