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These swatch books shown on this page give solid, mixed ink colors (also known as "spot" colors in the printing and design trade). Instead of the client asking for a sort of bluey-green, the designer can pull out his Pantone swatches and the client can pick the EXACT shade he/she wants, and put an exact number to it.The previous reviews are from people who aren't familiar with Pantone color guides. The Pantone Matching System has been used around the world by graphic designers, their clients and printers for decades. Designers can dial in the exact Pantone color into their design software (either spot colors or process colors) and the printer will know exactly what to do with it. This is essential and takes all the guess work and stress out of color selection.For a complete set of swatches, be sure to check out Pantone's Essentials Plus (formerly called the Pantone Survival Kit) that has 3-4 additional swatch books of 4-color colors on coated and uncoated stock, and the Pantone Bridge, that shows how close you can get from Pantone spot colors to Pantone 4-color colors. There are other Pantone swatch books that give thousands of colors for using the 4-color printing system (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black -- simplified to CMYK). I couldn't work without it.
This way, designers, clients and printers can talk to each other and agree on a specific PMS color by simply looking at the color swatch books, picking a color (say PMS 300), and everyone knows it will actually be that color on the paper when printed.In the swatch books, each Pantone color has below it the formula needed to mix that color, so the printer can simply follow that formula and get the color the customer wants.Ink colors look different when printed on glossy (coated), matte (satin finish) or uncoated (regular photocopy and letterhead) paper, because varying amounts of ink are absorbed into the paper, and light reflects off the ink slightly differently. It is not really meant for any other purpose, although it could be used as a color sample chart for non-professionals. The whole purpose of the Pantone Matching System (PMS) is to create predictable colors that can be created with mixed inks on a printing press. 4-color printing is also called 4-color process printing or simply process printing. It is an indispensable system for use in the graphic design field. Therefore, Pantone has created swatch books for all 3 paper types so you can see how the ink will look on each when printed. Absolutely essential designers' tools.
Love them. Small size, every color, good price. Only wish they were a bit thicker: they seem like they'd be easy to tear (but I'm not going to try).
I am an editor of a small magazine and aid in other design and text media items. I ordered this item to keep in my desk for quick color references. It has only been a few days, but I have not ran into any issues with the books yet. Great item.
Name a color. It's quite nice. bingo, it's there. You know, like it has all the colors and stuff. I mean, ALL the colors. My only complaint is, they don't use nice names for the colors. They're all "PMS147" or "PMS1457" but really, I'd prefer something like "mediterranean blue" or "tuscan yellow." Just a suggestion.
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