Pantone LLC (stylized as PANTONE) is a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the United States of America, US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the Flow-through entity, pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole p ...

headquartered in

Carlstadt, New Jersey Carlstadt is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 6,127,proprietary

color space A color space is a specific organization of colors. In combination with color profiling supported by various physical devices, it supports reproducible representations of colorwhether such representation entails an analog or a digital representa ...

used in a variety of industries, notably graphic design,

fashion design Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and place. "A fashion designer creates c ...

product design Product design as a verb is to create a new Product (business), product to be sold by a business to its customers. A very broad coefficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products. Thus, it is ...

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

and manufacturing and supporting the management of color from design to production, in physical and digital formats, among coated and uncoated materials, cotton, polyester, nylon and plastics.

X-Rite X-Rite, Inc. is a manufacturer of color measurement and management products, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. The company also creates products that regulate quality in the processing of film and x-rays. History The firm wa ...

, a supplier of color measurement instruments and software, purchased Pantone for US$180 million in October 2007, and was itself acquired by

Danaher Corporation Danaher Corporation is an American globally diversified conglomerate with its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The company designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services. The company' ...

in 2012.

Overview

Pantone began in New Jersey in the 1950s as the commercial

company of brothers Mervin and Jesse Levine, M & J Levine Advertising. In 1956, its founders, both advertising executives, hired recent

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of N ...

graduate Lawrence Herbert as a part-time employee. Herbert used his chemistry knowledge to systematize and simplify the company's stock of

pigment A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic comp ...

s and production of colored inks; by 1962, Herbert was running the ink and printing division at a profit, while the commercial-display division was US$50,000 in debt; he subsequently purchased the company's technological assets from the Levine Brothers for US$50,000 () and renamed them "Pantone". 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 Cardboard is a generic term for heavy paper-based products. The construction can range from a thick paper known as paperboard to corrugated fiberboard which is made of multiple plies of material. Natural cardboards can range from grey to light b ...

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

tint In color theory, a tint is a mixture of a color with white, which increases lightness, while a shade is a mixture with black, which increases darkness. Both processes affect the resulting color mixture's relative saturation. A tone is produce ...

s. 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. Pantone recommends that PMS Color Guides be purchased annually, as their inks become yellowish over time. 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.

Pantone Color Matching System

The Pantone Color Matching System is largely a standardized color reproduction system, as of 2019 it has 2161 colors. 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 The CMYK color model (also known as process color, or four color) is a subtractive color model, based on the CMY color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. The abbreviation ''CMYK'' refer ...

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. Those that are possible to simulate through the CMYK process are labeled as such within the company's guides. However, about 30% of the Pantone system's 1114

spot color In offset printing, a spot color or solid color is any color generated by an ink (pure or mixed) that is printed using a ''single run'', whereas a process color is produced by printing a series of dots of different colors. The widespread offset ...

s (as of year 2000) cannot be simulated with CMYK but with 13 base pigments (14 including black) mixed in specified amounts, called base colors. Those 1114 colors included 387 colors with numbers 100 to 487 from 1975 and some lighter colors from 600 to 732 in 1991. The original 4 digit colors introduced in 1987 were remapped into 3 digits. The Pantone system also later allowed for many special colors to be produced, such as metallics, fluorescents (neons) and pastels. There are 56 fluorescents from 801 to 814 (first 7 here are base colors, so called Dayglo) and from 901 to 942. Packaging metallics (previously premium metallics) are placed from 10101 to 10454 (54 of those added later, 354 altogether, 2 base colors Silver 10077 and Rose Gold 10412), while normal metallics are placed from 871 to 877 (first 7 here are base colors) and from 8001 to 8965. Pastels are from 9140 to 9163 with base colors being 0131, 0331, 0521, 0631, 0821, 0921 and 0961. 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. A lot of colors are outside

sRGB sRGB is a standard RGB (red, green, blue) color space that HP and Microsoft created cooperatively in 1996 to use on monitors, printers, and the World Wide Web. It was subsequently standardized by the International Electrotechnical Commission ...

.. The (discontinued) Goe system has RGB,

LAB Lab most often refers to: * Laboratory, a facility to conduct scientific research Lab or LAB may also refer to: Places * Láb, a village near Bratislava in western Slovakia * Lab (river), in north-eastern Kosovo People * ISO 639 code for the an ...

, SPD values with each color and has 10 base colors while only 4 of those new: Bright Red, Pink, Medium Purple and Dark Blue. Other 6 were in the system before: Yellow 012, Orange 021, Rubine Red, Green, Process Blue and Black that in Goe were named Medium Yellow, Bright Orange, Strong Red, Bright Green, Medium Blue and Neutral Black. (PMS has 8 more basic base colors, some not monopigmented: Yellow 010, Red 032, Warm Red, Rhodamine Red, Purple, Violet, Reflex Blue, Blue 072.) 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

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design emp ...

s and

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

s).. In January 2003, the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holy ...

debated a petition (reference PE512) to refer to the blue in the Scottish flag as "Pantone 300". Countries such as

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and organizations such as the FIA have also chosen to refer to specific Pantone colors to use when producing flags. US states including

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

have set legislated PMS colors of their flags..

Pantone Goe System

On September 5, 2007, Pantone introduced the Goe System.. Goe consisted of 2058 new colors in a new matching and numbering system. In addition to the standard swatch books (now called the GoeGuide), the new system also included adhesive-backed GoeSticks, interactive software, tools, and an online community where users were able to share color swatches and information. The Goe system was streamlined to use fewer base colors (ten, plus clear coating for reflections, only 4 base colors were new) and accommodate many technical challenges in reproducing colors on a press.. The Pantone Goe system was discontinued in November 2013, but 4 new base colors were added into PMS and some of new colors too, though those 4 base colors are harder to purchase.

Other products

In mid-2006 Pantone, partnering with Vermont-based

Fine Paints of Europe Fine Paints of Europe, located in Woodstock, Vermont, U.S., is the sole North American importer of paints and varnishes manufactured in the Netherlands by Wijzonol Bouwverven B.V. In recent years the company has developed and retailed premium pai ...

, introduced a new line of interior and exterior paints. The color palette uses Pantone's color research and trending and has more than 3,000 colors. In November 2015, Pantone partnered with Redland London to create a collection of bags inspired from Pantone's authority on color. Pantone also produced

Hexachrome Hexachrome is a discontinued six-color printing process designed by Pantone Inc. In addition to custom CMYK inks, Hexachrome uses orange and green inks to expand the color gamut for better color reproduction. It is therefore also known as a CMYKOG p ...

, a patented six-color printing system. In addition to custom CMYK inks, Hexachrome added orange and green inks to expand the color gamut, for better color reproduction. It was therefore also known as a CMYKOG process. Hexachrome was discontinued by Pantone in 2008 when Adobe Systems stopped supporting their HexWare plugin software. In 2015 7-color printing system was developed, adding Violet in CMYKOGV, that can cover 90% of 1114 spot colors, while CMYK only about 60%. 1729 new colors were added, marked XGC (extended gamut coated), some colors do not have a number, like Process Blue XGC or Purple XGC. Base colors of OGV were new mono-pigment inks, pigments PO34, PG7 and PV23 were used respectively with 58°, 180° and 311° hue angles. Pantone Color Manager allows for users of the Adobe Creative Suite and Creative Cloud as well as other software to import the most up to date information inclusive of

L*a*b* The CIELAB color space, also referred to as ''L*a*b*'' , is a color space defined by the International Commission on Illumination (abbreviated CIE) in 1976. (Referring to CIELAB as "Lab" without asterisks should be avoided to prevent confusion ...

numbers as well as CMYK and sRGB representations of all the various palettes (including chromatic adaptation under default D50 or D65 with 2 degree or 10 degree

observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in co ...

or even any

ICC profile In color management, an ICC profile is a set of data that characterizes a color input or output device, or a color space, according to standards promulgated by the International Color Consortium (ICC). Profiles describe the color attributes of ...

). L*a*b* numbers allow for the most accurate representation of color in a device-independent manner, but ideally X-rite InkFormulation is needed to emulate substrates and all 14 base colors of main Pantone system or 7 colors of CMYKOGV. Support is being phased out in favour of Pantone Connect plugin from Adobe Exchange of Creative Cloud. Adobe Illustrator removed five acb files (Adobe Color Books) of Pantone+ from 2023 version, since Pantone+ was deprecated by Pantone anyway.

Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the industry standard not only in ras ...

2023 and Acrobat still work.

Color of the Year

Since 2000, the Pantone Color Institute has declared 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. The selected color purportedly connects with the

zeitgeist In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' () ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history. Now, the term is usually associated with Georg W. F. ...

; 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." The results of the meeting are published in ''Pantone View'', which fashion designers, florists, and many other consumer-oriented companies purchase to help guide their designs and planning for future products. In 2016 and 2021, Pantone chose two colors for Color of the Year. In 2012, the color of the year, Tangerine Tango, was used to create a

makeup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vo ...

line, in partnership with

Sephora Sephora is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products. Featuring nearly 340 brands, along with its own private label, Sephora Collection, Sephora offers beauty products including cosmetics, skincare, body, fragranc ...

. The product line, named Sephora + Pantone Universe collection, features Tangerine Tango–embellished false lashes, nail lacquers, cream, glitters, and high-pigment lip glosses. 2013 Emerald color was reported to be out of sRGB gamut. Also new Very Peri color of 2022 is present in TCX (dyed cotton reference) and TPG (Textile Paper – “Green”) form, here TCX for sRGB hex values are mentioned. The person behind Pantone's Color of the Year, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute

Leatrice Eiseman Leatrice Eiseman is an American color specialist, who assists companies in their color choice in a range of areas, including packaging, logos, and interior design. She is the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, a division of Panto ...

, explained in an interview how 2014's Color of the Year, Radiant Orchid, was chosen: Pantone has said that color "has always been an integral part of how a culture expresses the attitudes and emotions of the times."

Intellectual property

Pantone asserts that their lists of color numbers and pigment values are the

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

of Pantone and free use of the list is not allowed.. This is frequently held as a reason Pantone colors cannot be supported in

open-source software Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Ope ...

and are not often found in low-cost proprietary software. Pantone has been accused of "being intentionally unclear" about its exact legal claims, but it is acknowledged that "the simplest claim would be trademark misappropriation or dilution towards someone who produced a color palette marketed as compatible with Pantone's". By contrast, intellectual property scholar Aaron Perzanowski claims that Pantone has no intellectual property rights over individual colors or color libraries. In 2022, a dispute between Pantone and

Adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for '' mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of ...

resulted in the removal of Pantone color coordinates from

and Adobe's other design software, causing colors in graphic artists' digital documents to be replaced with black unless artists paid Pantone a separate $15 monthly subscription fee. Artists accused Adobe and Pantone of holding their work hostage, and UK artist

Stuart Semple Stuart Buchanan Semple (born 12 September 1980) is a multidisciplinary British artist working across painting, sculpture, happenings, technology and activism. He is well known for his sociologically engaged works that often discuss youth poli ...

responded by releasing Freetone, a freeware clone of Pantone's color lists for use with Adobe software.

References

External links

*
Pantone Connect for Adobe
{{Color shades 2007 mergers and acquisitions Carlstadt, New Jersey Color organizations Companies based in Bergen County, New Jersey Graphic design Printing