Those of us in the business of colour printing have long been aware of Pantone. Now owned by X-Rite, Pantone has published colour guides for many years to allow printers to mix a small number of inks by weight to make an astonishing array of colour possibilities. Over the years, Pantone has added fluorescent colours, metallic colours, and many subtle pastel variations. Many now acknowledge Pantone as the colour authority, although it’s not been an easy ride for them with the changing specifications for viewing colour and measuring colour. Add to that the expectations and challenges of viewing colour on computer screens, iDevices, coated and uncoated papers with low or high OBA’s (optical brightener agents), and one can sense that colour can be a very complex business.

Pantone has also branched into the home decor business and publishes the colour trends every year which will of course cause us to throw out last years’ colour bath-towels in favour of “this years’ fresh colours”!

Here is a fascinating look inside Pantone.