There are many normal printing industry variables that, even with extremely small changes, can contribute to color appearance changes from print run to print run such as: paper composition and absorption, inks (formulation accuracy, pigment source, viscosity, and drying conditions), print variation due to ink metering, production speed, and environmental factors. These can lead to realized variation in printed color lightness, hue, and chroma. In particular, small changes in hue can have noticeable visual differences due to our innate human sensitivity to hue changes.

Pantone prints its guides using possibly the world’s only 28-fountain offset printing press designed specifically for printing Pantone guides and books. Like most sophisticated printing systems, it takes a well-trained, highly-capable team to run and manage its complexities. We are proud to have such skilled professionals working at Pantone. However, the reality of any printing processes is that, even when stringently managed and controlled, the operation isn’t easy or perfect.

Solution: The Latest, Advanced X-Rite Technology

Within our culture of continuous improvement, Pantone has now been able to embrace new tools and processes to enhance and better sustain our printing. Thanks to PantoneLIVE, X-Rite product sophistication and adaptability, and industry experts with the ability to harness the latest, advanced X-Rite technology, we are pleased to release a more colour-critical and exciting Formula Guide than ever before!

With this new ability to better standardize our production time over time, we can minimize color variation from guide to guide more than ever before.

Details: Products Identified

The full adoption of the latest X-Rite hardware and software, including ColorCert 3.0, InkFormulation Software (IFS), ColorCert ScoreCard Server, eXact Scan, and PantoneLIVE, has provided Pantone with a successful combination of ink and printing enhancements finally compatible to its unique printer infrastructure and ecosystem. These tools enable Pantone to not only refine its ink mixing and printing techniques, but also control, standardize, and maintain output from print run to print run.

Details: Why Were These Particular X-Rite Solutions Chosen?

ColorCert 3.0 Press Process Control Software –

ColorCert 3.0 helps printers and converters ensure accurate, repeatable colour, from job to job. The complexity of maintaining color and print quality is challenging – especially considering Pantone’s own unique 28-fountain press, our specifications, requirements and unavoidable variables. We are striving to ensure color appropriately matches our Master Standard digital data as closely as possible each time we print, in order to increase user confidence in the Pantone Formula Guide Coated and to deliver optimal product utility.

InkFormulation Software (IFS) –

X-Rite InkFormulation Software (IFS) uses PantoneLIVE “digital DNA” to quickly generate a Colour Match through three easy steps of project detail specification: 1) target colour 2) substrate and 3) ink bases. IFS also helps minimize ink irregularities and variances by recognizing and adjusting for them, giving flexibility and control over recipes and assortments, improving basic material handling, simplifying definition of the right ink film thickness, and helping reduce waste via quicker matches to “digital DNA” using less ink and downtime. It also makes it easier to use leftover inks and press returns, reducing overall ink inventories.

ColorCert Scorecard Server –

ColorCert Scorecard Server offers a convenient dashboard that allows for evaluation and monitoring of the print production workflow. By combining scorecard reporting and statistical process control, it allows real-time access to performance on press regardless of geographic location. At any time, an operator can view a summary of overall quality levels using customizable filters based on plant, machine, customer, work type, or other job parameters and then choose to dig deeper into problem areas for efficient exception management.

With the ColorCert Scorecard server, simply create an agreed-upon specification including color standards, dot gain, and tolerances. It returns one number that reflects the level of compliance with that specification. The ColorCert dynamic scoring algorithm is directly based on individual targets and tolerances, and reports how well they were achieved rather than artificial weighting used by other solutions that can distract operators, inadvertently placing focus on less important metrics.

eXact Scan Spectrophotometer –

The X-Rite eXact Scan is ideal for use in offset to improve on-press color control, reduce make-ready time and waste, and significantly improve color consistency. The eXact Scan gives operators the ability to quickly scan in a large number of patches. Wireless options allow operation flexibility and ease.

PantoneLIVE Digital Color Libraries –

PantoneLIVE allows access to a secure, cloud-based repository of common Pantone Color Libraries and syncs with both IFS and ColorCert software packages. Every software and hardware solution component interacts with PantoneLIVE for digital standards.

Details – What Has Changed?

Guide and Book Printing Tolerances – Pantone can now proudly offer tighter tolerances (about 90% of colors are under 2ΔE2000*) with our printed publications. In fact, our soon-to-be-released press run is achieving even better tolerances, with many colors close to a 1.2 ΔE2000*. Also, in line with the printing industry, Pantone uses ΔE2000. While still not perfect, compared with older methods, the math of ∆E2000 is the state of the art in matching the way the human vision sees differences in color.

*Formula Guide Coated.

Industry Typical Press Run Tolerances - As noted, the formulas shown in our guides are starting points. Like most printers, Pantone understands that application of ink to paper requires flexibility in the exact ink recipe in order to compensate for variations that naturally occur in pigments, in ink bases, and in paper stocks, to name a few.

When preparing a press run, Pantone employs an exhaustive regime of testing, checking, and quality control of rigorous incoming material specifications, while also validating methods and tools to mitigate raw material variability. Although we pay a premium price for paper, base inks, and quality control equipment, these variables are reduced but are not always eliminated. Slight variations may still occur between printings, as well as during each printing. Within any given printing, this process variation can result in a visual or measured color change. During Pantone production runs, a representative number of samples are measured using a scanning spectrophotometer in order to provide high confidence in the overall print quality of the production run. Press operators follow the guidance of software to simultaneously adjust the level of all 28 ink fountains and maintain the smallest ∆E value possible. The goal is to achieve less than 2∆E2000 for all 28 colors on the page. This was chosen because 2ΔE2000 is one of the most common tolerances applied to printing branded spot colors and is reasonable variation when printing the breadth of colors specifically needed to be managed on a daily basis for each form.

Data for Continuous Improvement – With each and every press run, data is collected to provide visibility to opportunities for improvement. Due to our ability to get closer to our digital targets, we are reducing variances with every production run. Although perfection is very difficult to achieve, it is our ultimate goal to get as close as possible.. Some slight variances can still be occasionally expected as it is impossible to remove all normal printing inconsistencies that can contribute to color variation from book to book.

Controlled, Printed Color Appearance – Every graphic designer, whether color critical or just visually color inspired, can now enjoy more reliably controlled, sustainable printed color – from run to run, books to guides. Press operators and ink suppliers also benefit from these improvements in book-to-book consistency. Better colorimetric matching aligns with better visual matching to our original 2010 Master Standards.

Master Standards are digital data points (spectral data, or a color’s DNA) that were determined and set at the initial printing of each Pantone Matching System® (PMS) Color when we relaunched that system in 2010. These Master Standards do not change and are based on the colors from our guides (like the 1,867 colors from the Pantone Formula Guide) on coated paper stock. Master Standards are developed considering only one type of substrate, printing method, and specific ink set, using specific press settings and methodologies.The data helps enable colour to be consistently reproduced according to its original intent, not only in the printed PANTONE publications.

Pantone’s Internal Printing Process Workflow – Pantone has been able to re-write our standard operating procedures for both our ink kitchen and our pressroom. Not only have we been able to reduce the chance for human error, but we’ve also built a process that can be more easily and quickly taught to others without dependency on high levels of technical experience in case unexpected changes happen to our current staff.

Details – What Remains Unchanged?

Master Standard Digital Data - The Master Standard digital data is not changing. This data is our “color DNA” and has not changed since it was established in 2010. Pantone does not intend to change this data unless an uncontrollable element presents itself (such as a naturally occurring pigment becoming obsolete) that impedes further creation of that color. To date, we have not experienced any such situation and do not foresee any in the upcoming future.

Design Software Digital Data – Often, design software from Pantone and others like Adobe® use M2 data which is the “UV- Cut” or UV-Filtered measurement standard. This data is appropriate for the design process so that the colour is independent of influence of paper that has optical brighteners (OBAs).

Printed Formulas – The ink or process printing formulations in our print publications have not changed and are still valid for use as starting points to create and repeat colors. The minor noticeable changes in the updated guides and books are only in the visual representation to better align select colors to their original intent.