The other day a client sent through an email regarding the new Pantone Plus system that was released May of last year. The timing was perfect as I’m in the midst of upgrading our systems and was looking into it. There hasn’t been much talk and I haven’t been convinced about upgrading. I thought I would post my response to her and I welcome any feedback or information if you have upgraded. Thanks!
Here is our client’s question:
" Have you guys moved to the Pantone Plus colouring system (versus the old Pantone Matching System)? If not, are you planning on it? If not, why not?"
To answer Ruth’s questions, we are presently colour calibrating our systems and ‘yes’ I’m researching the Pantone Plus system.
Right now, I’m not convinced we have to upgrade any time soon. Yes, there are more colours. The enhancements are intriguing but not applicable to our client needs. For example, there are additional metallic and neon colours to the system but our client budgets aren’t supporting special ink runs so that enhancement isn’t terribly useful to us. 100% of our print jobs require CMYK colour or are online, so we are using RGB colours.
Not much has been said in the industry. And, I don’t get the feeling other agencies are rushing out and upgrading their CS5 suites, even though the downloadable upgrade is FREE. If I remember correctly Pantone came out with a new colour system 4 years ago called GEO and it seems many have been able to carry on without upgrading. Ruth should also be aware that the new Pantone Plus booklets are printed on text weight paper. Not the nice heavier stock that we have been use to in the past. That was a big ‘ugh’ for me. (Technical term for not impressed.) I just picture these flippy-floppy pages being ripped and colour swatches getting torn off and lost.
Fifteen years ago, I would walk around with my Pantone book. I could not live without it. From selecting a colour palette, to assigning a spot colour to a logo, to going to press runs and matching colour. It was my bible. These days, we are creating a lot more electronic base tools. We have pantone books that show us the RGB breakdowns as we translate branding guidelines for print materials to the electronic world. Our BrandHealth Xerox printer is so accurate we are often using our digital printouts to gage accuracy in colour - and is often our colour proof we send to the printer to match.
From what I’ve read on Pantone’s site, if you do upgrade your Creative Suite (CS5), the Pantone Plus system will be saved as an alternate colour library in InDesign and Photoshop but replaces the colour library completely in Illustrator. If she decided to upgrade I don’t think it would pose a problem, she would just have to convert her colours to CMYK to make them universal. Or if she specifies a colour to us we would need the CMYK breakdown and the PMS colour number too.
Before you upgrade I would check to see if your internal printer and your outside suppliers are supporting this system. I’m waiting to hear if our Xerox RIP and our outside suppliers are supporting it too. In a couple weeks I will also be having a production meeting with our ‘Production Department’ and ‘Studio’ to discuss in greater detail.
Any insights would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
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