Imagine that you design a sofa in red wine color, you go to the factory and tell them that you need a red wine sofa, but how do you ensure that the factory produces the wine red you want? Everyone's understanding of wine red is different, and there is no standard way to specify each color. Pantone was born to solve this problem at the beginning.
What is Pantone?
At the heart of Pantone is the Pantone Color Matching System. The system was first developed in 1963 to ensure that printing houses can use the color matching system to query colors and produce the exact same color matching as another manufacturer regardless of location. These standardized Pantone color books play an extremely important role throughout the design and manufacturing process across a variety of industries, as they establish a way for designers to communicate specific colors to manufacturers, partners, retailers and customers in one common language.
In the digital age, with more and more media displaying colors, the problem of color inconsistency has become more prominent. In order to answer why these problems occur, let's first talk about what is RGB and CMYK color.
What is the RGB?
The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three additive primary colors, red, green, and blue.
What is the CMYK?
The CMYK color model is a subtractive color model used in printing, which stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (Black). CMYK is used to create all the colors in a printed image by overprinting different combinations of the four process colors.
Why there is color difference between computer display and actual printing？
The main reason for the difference in color between computer display and actual printing is due to the difference in the way colors are represented on the two mediums. Computer displays use the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) color model where each color is represented by a combination of three primary colors. When printing, however, most printers use the CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) color model, which uses four primary colors. This difference in color models can cause a difference in the way colors are perceived on the two mediums.
CMYK seems to be a perfect color system. As long as we all print in CMYK color, can't we avoid color difference? It's a pity that CMYK does have the disadvantage of not necessarily being consistent.
The colors of CMYK are created from placing colored dots on top of other colored dots, which creates the possibility for variation. This is especially true from printer to printer, as the ink cartridges in different printers tend to vary in color slightly. Additionally, the color of the paper used for printing can also affect the way colors are perceived.
Another disadvantage of CMYK colors is that they can't accurately reproduce some colors that can be seen with the human eye. For example, CMYK colors cannot accurately reproduce colors such as fluorescent, metallic, and pastel colors.
The Pantone Matching System is the superior choice due to its precise color matching across different printers and printing medium. It has a unique numeric identification and suffix for each color, and swatches are available for designers to preview the colors before printing.
Pantone also offers a wider range of colors than CMYK, allowing for more accurate color matching and a larger selection of hues and shades. Additionally, Pantone colors are more fade-resistant and better suited for outdoor applications.
Conclusion
Pantone is a standardized color matching system used in the printing and graphic design industries. It is the most widely used color system in the world, used to ensure that products and branding are consistent across different printing processes, materials, and locations.
Pantone Colors are important in the design industry because they provide a consistent, universal language that allows companies to communicate their branding identity and ensure that their products match across different mediums. This consistency is especially important for companies with multiple vendors or for those who need to replicate a certain color across multiple products or locations.