Pantone has left the building!

By now most graphic designers, art workers, printers and anyone working with the latest CS Suite, is well aware that the Pantone Colour Book no longer exists. Pantone Colour Book has been faded out since 2022, and now only exists as a paid subscription from Pantone. Having had this for free since I started using illustrator 6 (instead of Freehand) this does seems a little unfair. The Pantone colour system is central to design work. Over the years like many of you, we have purchased many colour books, which aren’t particularly cheap! Now, I'm sure many of you will have jumped back on an old Mac operating system running an early CS version and you are using the Pantone system this way, but this isn’t ideal for most especially if you enjoy using the latest features of the CS Suite. Sadly our Studio at 4 White Walls is completely out of old Macs (they all died and have a special place in a dark cupboard). If the amount of times you use Pantone doesn’t warrant paying a subscription then what can you do? Here’s a list of things to look out for before creating artwork or sending files to print which will enable you to achieve the right colour match without a subscription.

1 - If you’re opening old artwork that contains Pantone Colours then these will need updating. I have had instances where the Pantones only show up as black, however I have also had instances when they haven’t, I'm not exactly sure how ai decides this. 

2 - Don’t assume the CMYK equivalent of a Pantone colour will give you the same outcome for print, there will likely be a colour shift when it goes to the rip for printing depending on the rip and the printer. 

3 - Your Printer is there to work with you, so ask them for a printed version of the Pantone chart and put it on your wall. Match your printers chart to your Pantone Colour book! Make sure you are matching colours in an area with plenty of natural light to ensure the best outcome.

4 - Always remember that printed substrates together with laminate can affect the final colour, so it is always worth requesting a one off colour proof before the full print run.

This is a guide only, your comments and feedback are welcome. If you need a colour chart, drop us an email to studio@4whitewalls.co.uk and we'll send you one across. Follow us on Instagram @4_whitewalls and subscribe to our blog to get all our latest studio updates.