PMS COLOR MATCHING

In the graphic design industry, CMYK and PMS are part of our second language, but to a business owner it can be like speaking spanish. It's ok, that is why we are here to help!

CMYK in print

In four-color printing (aka full color printing), all the color you see on paper are a combination of four colors: Cyan (C), M (Magenta), Yellow (Y), and Black (K). We always use Pantone Solid Coated CP colors. If you have had a print that did not come out as expected it is because you use HEX colors, or Pantone C colors.

CMYK_Breakdown

PMS (aka, spot colors or Pantone colors) is when you are CALLING OUT the exact color if ink that you want. When you print with PMS, which stands for Pantone Matching System, it means that your color will be exactly the same every single time, no matter what printer you use or when you use them. This standardized color system enables different manufacturers or printers to the Pantone system to make sure colors match.

Advantages:

CMYK is widely available with all large format printers.

If it wasn’t for CMYK, you wouldn’t get to achieve billions of different colors.

You can get really high quality color and very close to most PMS logos with CMYK.

Disadvantages:

Colors may vary from printer to printer, and even slightly with the same printer from print job to print job depending on the way the printers are calibrated at the time your print job runs. So your print jobs, even if a PMS color is called out can vary slightly.

Do not design ads with Web Colors

Web colors are measured in RGB (red, green, blue) and can come out WAY differently than your CMYK, PMS, and even from monitor to monitor. Yes, monitors display colors differently depending on the quality, age, and settings of the viewer’s monitor! 

Visit our Pantone page on our website:  PANTONE