Hi guys, I’m wondering if anyone has experience with pantone colours that could help me out?
We are exploring new pantone colours and are potentially looking at 534 from Pantone pages.
It looks great in coated (534 C) but looks much lighter and paler in uncoated (534 U). Why is this? We have tried finding a similar Navy Blue uncoated version but they all appear to look much lighter.
The rest of our palette uses same PMS for Coated and Uncoated, do you think it’s possible to use 534C and 534U together or would they yield completely different results? Unfortunately we don’t have a pantone colour book! Thanks a bunch for the help!
The inks used to make the Pantone C and Pantone U books IS THE SAME INK.
It is the paper that reacts differently. The uncoated paper absorbs the ink in a different way from the coated paper.
I’d go on to say, if you spec a Pantone, And use it as a spot color you should get a draw-down on the stock you are using.
Also, in Digital printing as opposed to offset spot printing, in the US (your mileage will vary in the EU,) most machines are profiled to the Coated numbers. If you use the U designation in your file, you will either get the coated version or, more professionally, you will get a phone call asking if you REALLY wanted to hand match the uncoated chip. I have designers all the time spec-ing uncoated colors cuz they want me to hand match them. Not so much any more, but it used to be really common, because…Digital, right? No, not so much.
The thing you might want to be more worried about is the difference between a Spot color and the CMYK press version of that Spot color. For that you will need a Pantone Bridge. And again, that Bridge is only a suggestion of what the inks will look like on the paper that Pantone has selected to represent them. Your stock may vary.
Thank you so much guys, that is great to know! Don’t have too much experience with printing and I want to thread very carefully. Will take this wisdom with me! Much appreciated guys and have a great day:)
You’ll need to pick a Coated version, and Uncoated version that’s a closer match. And also a CMYK version for full colour work.
And find a print partner and stick with them. One printed version may well look completely different from another printers even using the same inks.
And if you are getting stationery done, trust me, use the same place for all of it so that the suite matches.
I had a guy send his comp slips to one place, business cards to another, and letterheads to another.
It was a disaster, the colour came back wrong, one company converted the Pantone to CMYK (probably because too lazy or time consuming to clean the ink wells).
Find a printer that you can work with - and get printed samples from them.
If you have to use another printers, send them printed samples of the colours you have done with the other printers so they can work towards that.