Pantone’s website features a search engine spanning every single PMS color they offer. It’s a bit of a splurge at $149, but it’s still the best choice if you want to eliminate the guesswork that comes with online PMS color charts. Pantone offers several publications that represent the industry standard for previewing and selecting PMS colors, the most popular being this Formula Guide, which includes 1,755 solid colors for both coated and uncoated stocks. To get the most accurate impression of how your printed PMS color will look, you should refer to a printed version of the PMS color book. Pantone Color Book – Solid Coated/Uncoated Formula GuideĮven though you can design using Pantone colors in Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign, the colors on your computer monitor can vary greatly and will almost never look exactly the same as a printed PMS color, making any Pantone color chart you find online of limited use. Tools for Browsing and Choosing PMS Colors
PMS (which stands for Pantone Matching System) is a color system based upon over one thousand standardized ink colors. This guide will walk you through the definition of PMS color and its pros and cons, as well as tips and tools for finding, matching, identifying and converting PMS colors.
You don’t have quite as much flexibility with your recipe, but it’s a great choice if you’re looking for a consistent taste because you always know exactly what you’re getting. If four-color process printing is like mixing together flour, sugar and baking powder from scratch, PMS color printing is a little like using pre-made cake mix.