Veerle's blog

It has been some time since we last talked about being a print designer. How fun and exciting the web can be it’s still no replacement to physically holding something you created in your hands. An essential tool in doing that is Pantone, you know the industry standard for color specification introduced 45 years ago. The designers landscape has changed a lot in those years and it’s time for something new.

First a bit of history for you youngsters

The days of cut-and-paste hard copy graphics production with light tables, precision knives, PMT halftones and paste-up boards seem like ancient history given the evolution of computer hardware and software. Even my own experience is so drastic that you can hardly believe it. I used to cut and paste pictures from magazines to create brochure examples printed in black and white from my Quadra 700. It’s now not uncommon for a creative brief to include requirements for offset print, digital print, packaging, Internet and physical product execution.

Conference call with Pantone

About 10 days ago I had the honor to be invited on a personal conference call with Doris Brown, Marketing Manager of Pantone Inc. I had the feeling she wanted to share some ground breaking news. In the 30 minute demo Doris showed me that in their 40-plus years of existence, Pantone had become the standard language for color communication from designer to manufacturer to retailer to customer. They are 'the' provider of color systems and leading technology for the selection and accurate communication of color across a variety of industries. Because technology grows and evolves, the demands in applying and using color systems changed over the years as well. Pantone probed the design industry and here is what they've learned...

What designers want...

PANTONE did a survey to find out how to improve the PANTONE Formula Guide and the most heard answer was add more colors. Other answers included:

• To differentiate themselves from the competition
• More intuitive ways to select colors and create palettes
• Increased efficiencies
• Relevant colors that reflect the influences of today’s global society
• Confidence that their designs can be accurately reproduced –anywhere

What printers want...

• Production efficiencies, while still delivering the same high quality work to customers
• To offer more color choices to customers
• Ink mixing bases that are readily available
• Inks that are compatible with aqueous and UV coatings

Introducing PANTONE GoeSystem

This new system is no small thing since it is the first completely new color system since PATONE was founded. Don't worry, the new system is not intended to replace the older one, they will co-exsist next to each other. The PANTONE Goe System (pronounced “Go”) is an answer to meet the changing requirements of the marketplace and introduces 2,058 new solid colors. The foundation of the PANTONE Goe System is the ten PANTONE Goe Mixing Bases, plus PANTONE Clear. This is a change from the original PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM® of 14 base inks plus transparent white.

I'm not going to go to technically but just highlighting some of the significant changes. For starters the 2,058 new colors in the PANTONE Goe are arranged in an intuitive, chromatic order for easy selection. That's a good thing since I always found the previous system somewhat confusing in it's arrangement of colors.

GoeSystem Numbering

The naming convention for the PANTONE Goe Colors is based on the 165 full strength colors and the families of colors derived from them. Individual color names reflect this approach using a three-part numbering system, plus the substrate identifier where "C" refers to "Coated" stock.

Using color name “PANTONE 4-1-4 C” for example:

• The number "4" tells us the color resides in the fourth color family and stems from 80% of strength color in that series.
• The number "1" indicates the page number within that series. A series may contain as little as one page, or as many as five.
• The last number "4" is an indicator of where the color appears on the page.

PANTONE GoeGuide

The PANTONE GoeGuide is the primary vehicle for selecting and communicating the 2,058 Goe Colors. Seven colors are printed per page, each one identified by unique number along with its ink mixing formula and RGB values. They are presented in fan guide format just as the previous system does.

PANTONE GoeSticks

All 2,058 colors in PANTONE Goe System are also available in a two-volume set of adhesive-backed color chips, allowing you to peel off a chip and place it where you want without using staples, glue or tape. The chips provide an easier and more professional method of creating, sharing and saving color palettes between clients, designers and printers. Six chips are provided per color. The GoeSticks also includes something called a PANTONE palette playground. You could describe it as a test area to experiment with the chips. Once you have made your mind and a color palette is set you can permanently place them on one of 30 PANTONE palette cards supplied with the book. You could use them when proposing color schemes to clients, give them to printers for color matching or archived with projects for future reference.

myPANTONE Palettes

It's a set of tools in one centralized location. This interactive color workspace integrates into any application that supports system level color selectors. Its small "widget-like" characteristics allow it to co-exist onscreen and be used with open design applications. There are multiple ways to make color selections:

colorPICKER

Upon launching the application for the first time, you see the familiar hue circle color picker with lightness and darkness slider. There is an option to switch to a square hue gradient if needed. The user can manually enter RGB or HTML values for known colors. Any selected color may be snapped to the closest PANTONE Color within the selected PANTONE Library.

PANTONE Palettes

With this you have the option to select colors directly from PANTONE Libraries including PANTONE Goe, PANTONE SOLID, PANTONE FASHION + HOME and PANTONE PAINTS + INTERIORS.

Eye-dropper Tool

The eye-dropper tool allows you to pick up any color appearing on your desktop.

colorBLENDER

This feature allows the you to form a color gradient between two user-defined colors with up to 83 individual steps between them.

Color Schemes

Color Schemes allows you to select colors according to various color harmonies such as monochromatic, analogous, complementary, split complementary, triadic and tetradic colors for any selected color. Color schemes are available within the colorPICKER tab and also the PANTONE palettes tab.

imagePALETTE builder

I've mentioned getting color inspiration from pictures in the past so if you love to do that this is your feature. Upon importing an image into the imagePALETTE builder, it will automatically generate a palette using the dominant colors within the image. As many as 12 colors can be automatically generated; each color can be individually changed. There is also a “randomize” feature, which creates an entirely new palette of colors using the same image.

Saving, Exporting, Printing and Reading Palettes

Once a color palette is defined, you have the ability to save it on your computer and export to another application. It can be printed in two ways – as a list or in palette card format. As a list, each color appears as a small swatch with color information alongside of it. PANTONE Colors are identified by PANTONE Name, while non-PANTONE-identified Colors are listed with RGB and HTML values and a user defined name. The alternative palette card format matches the printed palette cards supplied with PANTONE GoeSticks. Although non-PANTONE Colors will print, a PANTONEidentified Color will not; an actual chip should be applied to its space to ensure accurate color.

myPANTONE Palette Sharing

Pantone also had a look to the success of Adobe Kuler and created an online community (myPANTONE.com) dedicated for palette sharing. This site will allow color enthusiasts to garner color inspiration by searching, sorting and filtering through community posted palettes. Members will be able to post comments, as well as rate their favorite color palettes. A special utility will allow members to import palettes back into their myPANTONE palettes software that will allow them to edit, tweak and make the palettes their own. Members will also have special access to trend and forecast palettes created by industry professionals.

The GUI

While the features look promising, the interface is disappointing. Windows users may not care since the quality levels of the interface design isn't always first priority. Mac users on the other hands are more demanding when it comes to the GUI. I didn't get to test this application on my Mac so I'm not sure how it will look for us, but judging from the screenshots I hope we don't end up with an ugly Windows cousin on our platform. For a leader in colors and design I expected far more and not just an after thought. That's how it feels to me.

Pricing and Availability

This new system will be available on October 1st.

• Complete GoeSystem = $499
• GoeStickswith myPANTONEPalettes software = $369
• GoeGuidewith myPANTONEPalettes software = $129
• PANTONE FASHION + HOME and PAINTS + INTERIORS Libraries = $19.99 each