| parent = [[X-Rite]]
| website = {{URL | https://pantone.com }}
is an American [[limited liability company]] headquartered in [[Carlstadt, New Jersey]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Horyn |first=Cathy |date=Decembe=http://www.pantone.com/goe|title=Graphics – Pantone Goe System|publisher=Pantone|website=www.pantone.com|language=en|access-date=August 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703024351/http://www.pantone.com/goe|archive-date=July 3, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> Goe system has RGB, [[CIELAB color space|LAB]], SPD values with each color and has 10 base colors while only 4 of those new: Bright Red, Pink, Medium Purple and Dark Blue. Other 6 were in the system before: Yellow 012, Orange 021, Rubine Red, Green, Process Blue and Black that in Goe were named Medium Yellow, Bright Orange, Strong Red, Bright Green, Medium Blue and Neutral Black. (PMS has 8 more basic base colors, some not monopigmented: Yellow 010, Red 032, Warm Red, Rhodamine Red, Purple, Violet, Reflex Blue, Blue 072.)
}}
'''Pantone LLC''' (stylized as '''PANTONE''') is an American [[limited liability company]] headquartered in [[Carlstadt, New Jersey]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Horyn |first=Cathy |date=December 20, 2007 |title=Pantone's Color of the Year Is... |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/fashion/20COLOR.html |access-date=September 8, 2008 |issn=0362-4331}} "Nonetheless, Pantone's choice of blue iris, or No. 18-3943, got some news media attention last week, which seemed to be partly the objective of the company, which is based in Carlstadt, NJ."</ref> and best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a [[patent|proprietary]] [[color space]] used in a variety of industries, notably [[graphic design]], [[fashion design]], [[product design]], [[printing]], and manufacturing and supporting the management of color from design to production, in physical and digital formats, among coated and uncoated materials, cotton, polyester, nylon and plastics.
[[X-Rite]], a supplier of color measurement instruments and software, purchased Pantone for US$180 million in October 2007,<ref>{{Citation | newspaper = Printing talk | url = http://www.printingtalk.com/news/xri/xri117.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081202181819/http://www.printingtalk.com/news/xri/xri117.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = December 2, 2008 | title = Pantone US$180m Acquisition Completion For X-Rite: News from X-Rite }}.</ref> and was itself acquired by [[Danaher Corporation]] in 2012.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/15/idUS141467+15-May-2012+HUG20120515|title=Danaher Corporation Successfully Completes Tender Offer for Shares of X-Rite, Incorporated|date=May 15, 2012|work=[[Reuters]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518155802/https://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/15/idUS141467+15-May-2012+HUG20120515|archive-date=May 18, 2012}}</ref> At the end of September 2023, Danaher [[Spin-off (corporate)|spun-off]] its Environmental and Applied Solutions segment as Veralto Corporation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Corporation |first=Danaher |date=2023-09-30 |title=Danaher Corporation Completes Separation of Veralto Corporation |url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/danaher-corporation-completes-separation-of-veralto-corporation-301943632.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231001083608/https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/danaher-corporation-completes-separation-of-veralto-corporation-301943632.html |archive-date=2023-10-01 |access-date=2023-10-01 |website=www.prnewswire.com |language=en}}</ref>
==History==
Pantone began in New Jersey in the 1950s as the commercial [[printer (publishing)|printing]] company of brothers Mervin and Jesse Levine, M & J Levine Advertising.<ref>{{Cite web|title=How Pantone Became The Definitive Language Of Color|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/3050240/how-pantone-became-the-definitive-language-of-color|last=Budds|first=Diana|date=September 18, 2015|website=Fast Company|language=en-US|access-date=May 12, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=History of Pantone Inc. – FundingUniverse|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/pantone-inc-history/|website=www.fundinguniverse.com|access-date=May 12, 2020}}</ref> In 1956, its founders, both advertising executives, hired recent [[Hofstra University]] graduate Lawrence Herbert as a part-time employee. Herbert used his chemistry knowledge to systematize and simplify the company's stock of [[pigment]]s and production of colored [[ink]]s; by 1962, Herbert was running the ink and printing division at a profit, while the commercial-display division was US$50,000 in debt; he subsequently purchased the company's technological assets from the Levine Brothers for US$50,000 ({{Inflation|USD|50,000|1962|r=-4|fmt=eq}}) and renamed them "Pantone".<ref>{{Citation | publisher = Funding universe | contribution-url = http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Pantone-Inc-Company-History.html | title = Company histories | contribution = Pantone Inc. History}}.</ref>
The company's primary products include the Pantone Guides, which consist of a large number of small (approximately 6×2 inches or 15×5 cm) thin [[Paperboard|cardboard]] or [[plastic]] sheets, printed on one side with a series of related [[Color chart#Color selection chart|color swatches]] and then bound into a small "fan deck". For instance, a particular "page" might contain several yellows of varying [[tint]]s. {{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pantone Color Bridge Guide Set {{!}} Coated & Uncoated |url=https://www.pantone.com/media/catalog/product/g/p/gp6102b-pantone-graphics-color-bridge-coated-uncoated-guides-product-2.jpg?quality=95&fit=bounds&height=1200&width=1200&canvas=1200:1200 |website=Pantone}}</ref>
The idea behind the PMS is to allow designers to "color match" specific colors when a design enters production stage, regardless of the equipment used to produce the color. This system has been widely adopted by graphic designers and reproduction and printing houses. Pantone recommends that PMS Color Guides be purchased annually, as their inks become yellowish over time.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stempkowski |first=Joy |title=When should you replace your Pantone guides? |url=https://www.pantone.com/articles/technical/graphics-system-edition-how-many-pantone-colors-are-you-missing/ |website=Pantone}}</ref> Color variance also occurs within editions based on the paper stock used (coated, matte or uncoated), while interedition color variance occurs when there are changes to the specific paper stock used.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://pantone.com/aboutus/aboutus.asp?idArticle=588&idPressRelease=190 | archive-url= https://archive.today/20130131020005/http://pantone.com/aboutus/aboutus.asp?idArticle=588&idPressRelease=190 | url-status= dead | archive-date= January 31, 2013 |access-date = February 23, 2007 | title=Pantone Press Release, 6 May 2004 | quote = Colors in the new formula guide and chips books have changed due to a shift to coated paper that is brighter and whiter}}.</ref>
=== Falling-out with Adobe ===
In 2022, a dispute between Pantone and [[Adobe Inc.|Adobe]] resulted in the removal of Pantone color coordinates from [[Adobe Photoshop|Photoshop]] and Adobe's other design software, causing colors in graphic artists' digital documents to be replaced with black unless artists paid Pantone a separate $15 monthly subscription fee.<ref name="wired" /> Artists accused Pantone and Adobe of holding their work hostage. UK artist [[Stuart Semple]] responded by releasing [[Freetone|FREETONE]], a freeware clone of Pantone's color lists for use with Adobe software.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Weatherbed |first1=Jess |date=1 November 2022 |title=You now have to pay to use Pantone colors in Adobe products |url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/1/23434305/adobe-pantone-subscription-announcement-photoshop-illustrator |access-date=2 February 2023 |website=The Verge}}</ref><ref name="wired" />
==Pantone Color Matching System==
{{multiple image
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| header=Spectra of Pantone Colors
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| image1=Pantone ColorSpecifier 1000 Yellow - Orange.pdf
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| image2=Pantone ColorSpecifier 1000 Orange - Red.pdf
| caption2=from Orange to Red}}
The Pantone Color Matching System is largely a standardized color reproduction system; as of 2019 it has 2161 colors. By standardizing the colors, different manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone system to make sure colors match without direct contact with one another.
One such use is standardizing colors in the [[CMYK color model|CMYK]] process. The CMYK process is a method of printing color by using four inks—cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. A majority of the world's printed material is produced using the CMYK process, and there is a special subset of Pantone colors that can be reproduced using CMYK.<ref>{{Cite web|date=August 29, 2018|title=CMYK, RGB & Pantone for Print Marketing|url=https://www.ballantine.com/the-differences-between-rgb-cmyk-and-pantone-colors/|access-date=June 18, 2020|website=Ballantine|language=en-US}}</ref> Those that are possible to simulate through the CMYK process are labeled as such within the company's guides.
However, about 30% of the Pantone system's 1114 [[spot color]]s (as of year 2000) cannot be simulated with CMYK but with 13 base pigments (14 including black) mixed in specified amounts, called base colors.<ref name = patone2 /> Those 1114 colors included 387 colors with numbers 100 to 487 from 1975 and some lighter colors from 600 to 732 in 1991. The original four-digit colors introduced in 1987 were remapped into three digits.
The Pantone system also later allowed for many special colors to be produced, such as metallics, fluorescents (neons) and pastels. There are 56 fluorescents from 801 to 814 (first 7 here are base colors, so called [[Dayglo]]) and from 901 to 942. Packaging metallics (previously premium metallics) are placed from 10101 to 10454 (54 of those added later, 354 altogether, 2 base colors Silver 10077 and Rose Gold 10412), while normal metallics are placed from 871 to 877 (first 7 here are base colors) and from 8001 to 8965. Pastels are from 9140 to 9163 with base colors being 0131, 0331, 0521, 0631, 0821, 0921 and 0961. While most of the Pantone system colors are beyond the printed CMYK gamut, it was only in 2001 that Pantone began providing translations of their existing system with screen-based colors. Screen-based colors use the [[RGB color model]]—red, green, blue—system to create various colors. A lot of colors are outside [[sRGB]].<ref name = patoneRGB>{{Citation | url = http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/pantone.aspx?pg=20136&ca=10 | title = Pantone announces RGB conversions for Pantone system | type = press release | quote = Providing Designers with simple and accurate methods for recreating Pantone Matching System colors in Web designs}}.</ref> The (discontinued)<ref name="pantone.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.pantone.com/goe|title=Graphics – Pantone Goe System|publisher=Pantone|website=www.pantone.com|language=en|access-date=August 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703024351/http://www.pantone.com/goe|archive-date=July 3, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> Goe system has RGB, [[CIELAB color space|LAB]], SPD values with each color and has 10 base colors while only 4 of those new: Bright Red, Pink, Medium Purple and Dark Blue. Other 6 were in the system before: Yellow 012, Orange 021, Rubine Red, Green, Process Blue and Black that in Goe were named Medium Yellow, Bright Orange, Strong Red, Bright Green, Medium Blue and Neutral Black. (PMS has 8 more basic base colors, some not monopigmented: Yellow 010, Red 032, Warm Red, Rhodamine Red, Purple, Violet, Reflex Blue, Blue 072.)
Pantone colors are described by their allocated number (typically referred to as, for example, "PMS 130"). PMS colors are almost always used in branding and have even found their way into government legislation and military standards (to describe the colors of [[flag]]s and [[Seal (emblem)|seal]]s).<ref name=USCGHeraldry>{{Citation | title = Directive | publisher = USCG | url = http://www.uscg.mil/directives/cim/5000-5999/CIM_5200_14A.pdf}}.</ref> In January 2003, the [[Scottish Parliament]] debated a petition (reference PE512) to refer to the blue in the [[Flag of Scotland|Scottish flag]] as "Pantone 300". Countries such as [[Flag of Canada|Canada]] and [[Flag of South Korea|South Korea]] and organizations such as the [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile|FIA]] have also chosen to refer to specific Pantone colors to use when producing flags. US states including [[Texas]] have set legislated PMS colors of their flags.<ref name=texascolors>{{Citation | chapter-url = http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/GV/content/htm/gv.011.00.003100.00.htm#3100.001.00 | place = [[Texas|TX]], US | title = Statute | chapter = 3100. State Flag | quote = (b) The red and blue of the state flag are (1) the same colors used in the United States flag; and (2) defined as numbers 193 (red) and 281 (dark blue) of the Pantone Matching System | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071013074003/http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/GV/content/htm/gv.011.00.003100.00.htm#3100.001.00 | archive-date = October 13, 2007 }}.</ref>
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