How to Convert CMYK Values to the Closest Pantone Color

Here's a handy tip for finding the closest Pantone color for any color with a CMYK breakdown; well, other than hunching over your color sample with a Pantone color book, flipping through the possibilities. Or perhaps you don't have a physical sample, you only have a color on your monitor. Did you try holding the color book up to the monitor and guessing? Oh, you don't have a color book? Don't fret, once you discover what the CMYK breakdown of your mystery color is, the rest is easy! No color book necessary!

(This way is not the only way, but it's easy and, as an added bonus, free, if you already have Photoshop.)

So, first, launch Photoshop. And you have now completed the longest, most time consuming, step in this process. From here on out, it's quick! You don't even need to have a picture open. 

Move your mouse over to the foreground color swatch at the bottom of the tool panel which is usually along the far right of your screen.

Click on the foreground swatch, and the Color Picker will come up:

Type in your CMYK values in the appropriate C, M, Y, and K boxes in the Color Picker for the color in which you are interested in finding a Pantone match. In this case, this morning, it was a medium blue for which I wanted to find a close Pantone match. See the image below.

Then click on the Color Libraries button, highlighted in the image below.

A Color Libraries palette then comes up. See the image below. My Color Libraries palette was already set to the color book PANTONE Solid Coated, and it automatically selected (with a thin black box around the color) PANTONE 2915 C as the closest match in that color book. Voila, there's my answer. 

It's not perfect, but it's as close as it can get for that CMYK breakdown. (Note the color difference between the top and bottom swatches in the color sample box to see how far different the two colors are.) If your color book wasn't already set to  PANTONE solid coated, continue reading!

To select a different color book, or to set your menu to PANTONE solid coated, go to the drop down menu at the top of the Color Libraries box.

Click to select whatever color collection you are interested in having a closest match to your CMYK color. As you can see in the image below, there are myriad choices!

And that is it. Now you have the power to convert CMYK values to their closest matching Pantone colors quickly and easily, wowing your co-workers and clients!

Swatch Color Matching for Printed Catalogs

Have you ever bought clothing, or anything else for that matter, from a catalog (after carefully scrutinizing the image, of course) and upon receiving it, you were surprised by the product's actual color? The most likely answer to this questions is, "of course!"

It is probably only a slight exaggeration to say that this has happened at least once to everyone who has ordered anything ever.

As common as this problem is, however, there are ways to reduce the sometimes stark differences between catalog images and the actual products. Lorraine Press can help vendors and catalog designers depict products more accurately in their printed catalogs.

We can work with your color swatches, product samples, or even fabrics, and we will create the best CMYK match for the swatch color. With the color separations we create, you'll be able to design and print your catalog, confident that it will represent your products better than ever before.

Contact us for more information, or if you would like help in creating your most accurate catalog to date.

Spot colors, Custom colors, Brand colors, and Pantone Colors

All these are names for the same type of thing: an ink that requires its own plate in the printing process. This ink color could be in addition to any or all of the usual four C, M, Y, and K inks used in the printing process, or it could be used all by itself.

Spot color inks are useful for several reasons: for producing a color not within the CMYK color gamut, maintaining a color specific to a certain brand or product (think Tiffany's, 3M, UPS, Coke, what colors do these companies bring to mind? Those are their brand colors.) or even for shrinking costs when only one or two colors (instead of four or five) can be used to produce a project.

When submitting a project with a spot color, you can identify that spot color several different ways to your printer:

• with a physical sample of that color, (but sometimes the physical sample doesn't fit in your car to bring it to the print shop)
• with numerical values in a specified color space, such as CMYK, or Lab (but these numbers are all different depending on what color space they are in, so identify which color space you are using.)
• with an ink formula or recipe to mix the color, (not a usual way, but certainly possible)
• or most likely, with a color chip or a name from a color book, with the most popular color book in the U.S. being produced by Pantone. (Pantone colors are in many graphic design programs already!)

Please refrain from using vague words like "very light pink" or "a vibrant orange" or "it's just a regular red, but I want it to pop," as the only definition of your spot color when identifying it for your printer. Color is very subjective, and the words "vibrant orange" is going to mean something different to everyone else.

For this reason, the Pantone color guide book (the actual physical book) is useful for picking your colors even though most graphic design programs have digital color books available. It is also nice to see what the actual Pantone color will look like as opposed to what is on the screen. But since the last time we bought the full range of color books from Pantone, they came in their own little suitcase, there may be financial considerations before you buy every kind of color from Pantone.

The color book does have a handy feature. If the Pantone color is achievable in CMYK, then a four-dot icon is underneath the color name. Like this picture demonstrates here:

We have put together a list of helpful hints about spot colors. Please read through this list for helpful suggestions on what to do with your spot color project before you submit it to your printer:

1. Tell your printer which spot color you want. You can use any of the methods described above, but make sure it gets said. Out loud or written down. It may sound silly to spell this out, but sometimes people forget to tell their printer, "There's a spot color on this job."
2. Make certain that the spot color is named the exact same thing across programs. If in Illustrator you use "PANTONE 123C," and in InDesign you use "Pantone 123C" and then place that Illustrator file in InDesign, your final file will have two spot colors. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but without care, the number of spot colors in a project can multiply as quickly as tribbles. (I think the current record at Lorraine Press is well over 200 spot colors used in one document that was only supposed to have 1 spot color.)
3. Double check in all programs used for your project that your spot color is defined as a spot color and not as a process color. The objects using the color marked process, even with the same name as your spot color, will come out on the CMYK plates and not the spot color plate. Once again, this sounds pretty basic, but it has caused headaches for people in the past.
4. If there is an exact color, or an acceptable range of hues for that exact color that the printer absolutely needs to match or be constrained to, make certain that a physical sample of that exact color along with any acceptable shade tolerances is in the printer's possession, preferably before the job proofs, and especially before the job gets to the press. Nobody, you or the press operator, wants a surprise at the press check.
5. If the printed piece is going to be subjected to heat, (for example be laminated), after printing, ask about possible color shifts with your spot color. If you are concerned about color shifts, ask for a laminated sample before moving forward with that color.
6. If you are using a spot color and an aqueous coating in your project, be aware that with some spot colors in the blue, violet, and purple ranges, coatings will cause unacceptable visual color shifts after drying. Therefore, your ink manufacturer, or printer, may substitute pigments in your color which will not shift with applied coatings. And those pigments may not be an exact match for the original specified color. Check with your printer before printing to alleviate any concerns in this area.
7. Double check your project to make sure that all the objects that should be using your spot color are actually using your spot color and not a process color similar to your spot color. This has tripped up customers in the past. One way to check this if you have a pdf of your project is in Adobe Acrobat (not Reader). It has a handy feature called Output Preview which will let you check your pdf for your spot color. (With recent versions of Acrobat: go to Advanced, then Print Production, then Output Preview. It will bring up a menu that lets you turn on and off your color separations. It will also show you if you have the correct number of spot colors in your pdf.)

See, that isn't too complicated. Just take some time to look at the details, and you'll have your spot color project sail through its printing with, well, flying colors.

Pantone's Color of the Year

Tired of slushy, gray winter days? Pantone has a solution for you:

This is bright and vibrant pink is Pantone's new color of the year for 2011. They are recommending it for use in fashion, home decor, and in your wallet. A Pantone Visa Card is available in the color of the year:

Also available for download on the Pantone website are sample color palettes which use honeysuckle with coordinating colors. There's no end to the bubblegum pink possibilities!

“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,” explains Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “Honeysuckle derives its positive qualities from a powerful bond to its mother color red, the most physical, viscerally alive hue in the spectrum.” For Pantone's press release on its color of the year, click here.

Can't get enough of Pantone's colors? Well, on your next jaunt to Belgium be sure to stop by the Pantone Hotel.

The "hotel of colors" uses color in its room design to evoke certain emotions like "vibrant," "cheerful," or "daring." Plus, a color consultant is available to help you choose the best color for your brand. And don't forget while you are there to stop by the Pantone Lounge, where you can choose between drinks named Pink Champagne PANTONE 12-1107, Lemon Drop PANTONE 12-0736 or Daiquiri Green 12-0435.

Not sure that pink is your thing, and you don't have a trip planned to Belgium anytime soon? That's okay, you can still request any Pantone color with your print order at Lorraine Press. We custom mix each color on-site in our ink lab with specific quality controls in place. Whether bubblegum pink or any other color, we'll make sure you are happy with how your color of the day turns out.