Pantone Apps

glitch · 3 Jan 2011 at 17:24

I've got a friend who is a designer and she's getting fed up with having to take a Pantone swatch book to clients when she might be able to just take her iPod Touch instead - from what I can see, there's a choice of Color Expert or the myPantone App available to her.

Color Expert looks to have some interesting features, not least the camera tool, but does anyone know just how accurate these things are?

PardonTheWait · 3 Jan 2011 at 22:00

The whole point of Pantone colours (and of the swatch books) is that they're spot colours, they're usually chosen and used because they want the colour to be EXACTLY right - displaying them on an iPod Touch will sort of spoil that. They don't even look perfect on properly calibrated screens a lot of the time, and even mimicking them with process CMYK isn't perfect.

Some of her clients won't care but a lot probably would.

When I was in print I had a swatch book that was only about 8 inches long, two inches tall and about two inches wide, can she not get one of them?

glitch · 3 Jan 2011 at 22:23

I know what the point of Pantone colours is - I'm asking just how accurate the Apps are. If they take into account the various hardware specifications of the screens being used to display the colours and offer an accurate guide, coupled with the camera functionality it would be somewhat ideal for her use.

At the moment, and I forget the reason why, she uses the Chips books for customers to choose their colours. But rather than spending a couple of hundred quid on the Colour Bridge set, if either the myPantone or Colour Expert App would do the job that would be a pretty good result.

Fortunately we're not talking graphics or print here, so the matches are never going to be 100% accurate in any case. She's just interested in a handy tool that might help her avoid having to pay out for the swatch books of which you speak.

StoutMeister · 4 Jan 2011 at 13:35

PardonTheWait said:
The whole point of Pantone colours (and of the swatch books) is that they're spot colours, they're usually chosen and used because they want the colour to be EXACTLY right - displaying them on an iPod Touch will sort of spoil that. They don't even look perfect on properly calibrated screens a lot of the time, and even mimicking them with process CMYK isn't perfect.

I think this is the nub of his point, excuse me otherwise

glitch · 4 Jan 2011 at 13:45

No need to excuse yourself; I appreciate what he's saying is accurate and I'm well aware that it's technically correct. But I'm not asking if a £5.99 App will replace the need to spend upwards of £200 on Swatch Books, just if the App is accurate enough for general usage.

After all, what's the point in an official Pantone app if the damn thing isn't accurate? You'd think they'd realise that and ensure there was some degree of accuracy between the App and the Spot Colours, wouldn't you?

But having now got my hands on a copy of the App and a Pantone Swatch Book, I'm happy to report that it's absolutely bloody useless and nowhere near accurate - but it is a lot of fun nonetheless!

ichabod crane · 4 Jan 2011 at 13:56

glitch said:
But having now got my hands on a copy of the App and a Pantone Swatch Book, I'm happy to report that it's absolutely bloody useless and nowhere near accurate - but it is a lot of fun nonetheless!

Is it the display accuracy limiting it then? You would assume Pantone got there own colours right!

The swatch books maybe a tad on the pricey side but for me there is no compromise to them.

PardonTheWait · 4 Jan 2011 at 13:58

That's what I meant - the app can have the right values all day long, it's the screen that's the problem. The Touch will be worse obviously than a calibrated screen but even then there's plenty of colours that you just cannot accurately display on a screen.

RGB used by screens and CMYK used in print are fundamentally different, Pantone yet again, they're spot colours pre-mixed, not necessarily replicable by RGB at all, let alone on an iPhone or iPod Touch screen. Even Pantone Process colours are still CMYK. Just doesn't work right on a screen and never will.

cu3ed · 4 Jan 2011 at 16:25

If she is working out the pantone witha client, then it wont matter, the client beside her will be seeing what coours go with what, its doesnt matter what the screen displays, so long as the printed product is using the corect colour code.

Usually if a client has a particular Pantone colour mailed or in mind they know how it looks, or you wont be sitting with a switchboard, these apps are actually most handy for when you have atime to easily put together swatch panels of colurs that work well together or to experiment with.

For what she has in mind it would work perfectly well considering teh costs of books, a simple explanation to the client of how the final colours may look is usually enough because realistically you will be sending many proofs backwards and forwards for them to see.

glitch · 6 Jan 2011 at 21:54

ichabod crane said:
Is it the display accuracy limiting it then? You would assume Pantone got there own colours right!

I'm not sure where the limitations actually lie, but it's quite a let down considering it's an official Pantone App!

If anything, Color Expert seems to be more accurate and a lot more fun to play around with when you're bored and have a few minutes to kill.

PardonTheWait said:
That's what I meant - the app can have the right values all day long, it's the screen that's the problem. The Touch will be worse obviously than a calibrated screen but even then there's plenty of colours that you just cannot accurately display on a screen.

Then why can't Pantone and apple have got their act together, worked out the limitations of the screens used in all the various iOS devices and designed an App that works with those limitations to give you a decent end result?

And yes, I know the technical issues that would be faced, but we're not talking millions of different hardware combinations, are we?

PardonTheWait said:
RGB used by screens and CMYK used in print are fundamentally different, Pantone yet again, they're spot colours pre-mixed, not necessarily replicable by RGB at all, let alone on an iPhone or iPod Touch screen. Even Pantone Process colours are still CMYK. Just doesn't work right on a screen and never will.

It doesn't work quite right, yet plenty of people rely on their calibrated monitors to get as accurate a Pantone colour on screen as they possibly can before they hard-proof with CMYK.

I'm well aware of the limitations in displaying Pantone colours on an RGB screen, but it still surprises me that Pantone want £5.99 for something that's effectively a gimmick.

cu3ed said:
If she is working out the pantone witha client, then it wont matter, the client beside her will be seeing what coours go with what, its doesnt matter what the screen displays, so long as the printed product is using the corect colour code...

...For what she has in mind it would work perfectly well considering teh costs of books, a simple explanation to the client of how the final colours may look is usually enough because realistically you will be sending many proofs backwards and forwards for them to see.

We reckon that for what she actually does, which will take far too long to explain and bore everyone silly, the app is a useful-ish tool.

But I've found someone with a spare set of Swatch Books, so she'll be covered from all angles, so to speak.