Pantone Color Bridge: What Changed?
The new Color Bridge has been modernized to show CMYK colors that are more achievable than ever before!
Integrating Industry Standards
As printing technology continues to evolve, we have made some improvements to our new Color Bridge Guide, which will enable designers,
printers, and brand managers to better choose between Pantone Spot Colors or CMYK process printing. When
printing our Color Bridge Guide, we now use the G7® calibration methodology used by most printers
today. G7® calibration assures consistent gray balance, which is the foundation for accurate process
printing. The new Color Bridge Guide also features improved CMYK values to provide more reliable guidance on
what results you can expect when reproducing Pantone colors with typical CMYK process printing.
Why Do The Cmyk Colors Differ Between My Old And New Color Bridge Guides?
In CMYK printing any variation in process, registration, substrate, ink, density, or other related variables
can alter the final appearance of color. Previously, the CMYK values in the Color Bridge Guides were produced
using manually adjusted settings specific to the Pantone printing press. The new Color Bridge Guides are now
produced with improved CMYK values that were created without manually adjusting individual colors, in order to
illustrate results you can expect to achieve from a typical commercial printer.
Why Do The Values Differ Between The Guide And Different Print Applications?
Conversion of Pantone Spot color into CMYK, RGB, or other color systems is dependent on the specific print
conditions for a given application. Therefore, the values provided within the Color Bridge Guide are not
absolute, but rather starting points. If absolute accuracy is needed, we recommend conferring with your printer
or software vendor to adjust the color conversion process for your specific substrate and printing process.
Other Reasons For Visible Color Variation Between Old And New Guides
The appearance of colors in guides and books can change over time as a result of handling, fading, improper
storage, and light exposure, among other factors. For these reasons, we do not consider the colors in our
printed guides the official color standards, but rather representations of the master standard color data.
Pantone recommends replacing guides and books every 12-18 months, as normal usage and exposure may render your
colors inaccurate over time.
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