Digital Spot , Demystified – Using Colors in Digital Print Webinar FAQ Thank you for your interest in our May 2021 Graphics Webinar, “Digital Spot Colors, Demystified – Using Pantone Colors in Digital Print” This FAQ answers the questions from the sessions. A recording of the Webinar is available here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/4052970699353930767

Session 1. May 18 10:00 AM EDT / 4:00 PM CET

If you are designing art for ceramic pieces, what guide would you recommend using to get the best results?

Pantone Formula Guide has the brightest colors, many of which can be achieved with the right glaze formulation, especially if you are doing low fire which can give brilliant colors. There’s not much point in having Bridge for CMYK conversions since you aren’t going to use 4 color process. Pastels might be useful for the pastels which could be achieved even with high fire. If you have some success matching, let us know. We’d love to do a case study!

Is the delta E value calculated only between the lab values of two colors? Is it possible to calculate it between two colors with a particular ICC profile?

Yes, two L*a*b* colors are required to calculate ∆E. If you want to see how the colors compare in a profile, you could use commercial tools to compare how two colors compare through a profile. Contact me for more information.

Today, many mobile devices use Display p3 – much wider than sRGB. It is not anachronistic to still use sRGB in the bridge instead of Display P3?

The industry uses sRGB typically because that is the default in Adobe Creative Cloud. Some designers us AdobeRGB1998 as it is a bigger , but for print applications that can lead to more disappointment with printed results - since there will be more gamut compression. Display P3 is a bit bigger gamut than AdobeRGB, but it has a D65 point. The international standard for viewing graphic arts products is D50, which is the of both sRGB and AdobeRGB. The P3 does give great looking color and is used by the motion picture industry which is why many mobile devices utilize it as a source profile – so that motion pictures viewed on mobile devices will most closely match the color of the film in a contemporary theater projection.

Will I get a better result if I save my file as a PDF vs. an Illustrator file and then print it on a digital printer?

Not necessarily better, but likely more consistent from job to job and for re-prints because it is less likely that DFE settings for processing PDF files will change compared to the high likelihood that different press operators will choose different settings in the print driver when from the native application file. 2

Why are the LAB values not listed on the Pantone Finder tool on Pantone.com?

Pantone Finder is intended for users to find Pantone Colors and compare them to other Pantone Colors. The information presented is just informational – its not very efficient to type those numbers into a design application. Pantone Connect is the platform for design and has more sophisticated color comparison functions. When using Connect, spot colors from the Pantone Formula Guide can be used directly in design applications and the L*a*b* alternate values will be included in the design for when a named color cannot be found in the tables on the DFE.

My customer requested a Pantone code, so how do I adjust to make a digital press to achieve a closer match with a Pantone Guide?

You need to find out how to use and optimize spot colors on your DFE. Start by finding out how the DFE processes spot colors and how you can control this. Be prepared to calibrate and profile your press for the paper type you want to match on, otherwise, even if the DFE correctly processes the color, the appearance may not match the appearance of the actual Pantone color.

I have a color bridge Pantone palette, but some colors are not listed in the Adobe Illustrator Pantone color bridge swatches book.

This was covered in other Webinars, but not in this session. Adobe Creative Cloud libraries have not been updated since 2010 so there are literally hundreds of missing colors. The solution is to use Pantone Connect with the extension for Creative Cloud applications. Connect always has the most up-to-date libraries for all the Pantone Colors.

Do you have any tips on how to best try and print/match Pantone references on a standard digital printer?

Ideally, you need to get an RIP, although you can match spot colors using an RGB print driver workflow. Still, this will require that you buy color profiling tools and learn how to use them.

What is the best way to use the correct color setting for an office printer or/and home printer?

See the same question above, “Do you have any tips to best try print/match pastel pantone references on a standard digital printer?” The answer is the same for matching any Pantone Color, not just Pastels. 3

Which Pantone Guide has PMS 2392? How can I convert that to a color that can be used on 80# gloss cover to match as quickly as possible? (PMS2392 is a color that was used on a pen barrel - plastic).

This is in the Pantone Formula Guide and the Pantone Color Bridge Guide. You can get the Color Bridge CMYK values for it using Pantone Connect. But you will need to proof and print to a CRPC6 G-7 calibrated system for the CMYK build numbers to work best.

Does using Illustrator Mesh have any effect on color profiles?

We don’t know of any problem with this. You can assign colors to Gradient Mesh vector objects and they will be color managed with the rest of the design elements.

Which Pantone guide selection is for colour matching Process?

Pantone Color Bridge.

Which is right? PSO Coated V3 (FOGRA51) v ISO coated (FOGRA39)?

This was an error in the slide deck. The older Fogra reference for offset lithographic printing on a #1 grade sheet was Fogra 39 and the ISO Coated profile was made from it. The newer Fogra 51 reference is the one that many printing companies have migrated to in Europe, because it is more representative of modern commercial printing on optically brightened substrates. The PSO Coated profile is made from the Fogra 51 dataset and the slide was in error associating the profile “ISO Coated” with the Fogra 39 data. The slide should have read “PSO Coated/FOGRA51” and this was corrected in the second session of the Webinar.

What about old source files that use former PMS in CMYK values?

For Digital Print, check if your print provider has the latest Pantone libraries on their DFE. Some DFEs have a function for Color Replacement so that they could change all the instances of the old colors to the new values. For digital, it is also possible that the named color is being managed by the DFE and not using the supplied CMYK values. For conventional, you may need to update the legacy files but if the job has already run to your satisfaction this is not required.

If a client likes colors, it's very difficult to have them in CMYK.

This depends on the press. Modern digital presses can render oranges in some cases better than conventional presses. You could also look for a print provider that has a digital press with additional color(s). There are some presses that have orange ink. 4

Ok! I have a guide before 2019... But Bridge for FOGRA?... I'm in Portugal...

You should get a new Guide since you are missing the new 294 colors added in 2019. Right now, we do not offer a Fogra version of Color Bridge, but as printing standards converge around ISO 12647-2, we will always print to the latest references and these will be more common between Europe and the U.S. when the future 12647-2 specification is published. For today, the average difference from the CRPC6 dataset to the Fogra 51 dataset is 1.75 ∆E so the colors will not be very far off.

What can you say about CIELAB D50, M values?

We have not covered the M (measurement mode) because it is a complicated topic. Most modern systems still use M2 (CMYK excluded) Pantone Libraries because there is concern that if this is changed then colors will shift, such as when printing digitally using a DFE that licenses the Pantone libraries. M1 would be a better choice but there is some disagreement about this because substrates with different levels of Optical Brightening Agents will react differently even in M1 measurements and illumination. Expect to hear more about this in the future as our commitment to continuous improvement dictates that we take on the Measurement Mode challenge and better educate our customers about it.

When will you have another talk?

We have Webinars at least once a month! Please see our website. I will probably not personally present another one until September.

When are new PMS books coming out?

Sorry, we can’t tell you that, but due to the pandemic our cadence of a release every 18 months has been interrupted. We are hard at work to add new colors, but can’t promise a release any time soon since color development takes a lot of effort and time.

Session 2. May 18 3:00 PM EDT

What are the Pantone swatch book options that you recommend for textiles… mainly sublimation of polyester fabrics?

The Polyester Swatch Book has colors on polyester. 5

If LAB ensures colours are all consistent, regardless of device, why does the colour printed on digital equipment sometimes look completely different than the Pantone colour in a Pantone book and/or litho outputs?

L*a*b* does not ensure consistency on physical devices unless the ICC profiles that are used translate colors into and out of L*a*b* appearance space. The #1 problem you will find, if you ask print suppliers about their digital presses, is that the majority do not make custom profiles for their actual press and the paper they will print your job on. Even if they do have a custom profile, regular calibration and color quality assurance using a measurement device are essential for them to match your colors. To be fair, the Pantone Guides are guides, not references. The colors can and do vary from the appearance of the master digital standards to some degree in any book because we have to contend with ink dryback and the challenges of running thousands of press forms consistently. If you do want to compare with a Guide, be sure it was purchased in the last 12-18 months because some colors do fade and over time. If you want a reference that is guaranteed to be in tolerance to the digital master library, consider ordering on demand prints from the Pantone website. Finally, if conventional is not matching, that is most likely because they are not printing with a spot color, but converting your colors to CMYK and perhaps not printing them on a well calibrated press.

Is a conventional press an "offset press"?

Yes, these are the same. Conventional printing is primarily done with offset lithographic presses, so people commonly shorten this and say “Offset” or “Litho”. There are also conventional printing technologies for special applications or substates including Flexography, Gravure, and Screen Printing.

Why are some of the CMYK color matches in the Bridge book NOT the perfect match, however the perfect CMYK match is in the bridge book, but it is under a different PMS.

This could be due to inconsistent printing in the bridge guide or in the formula Guide you are comparing it to. We are constantly working to improve our quality so I encourage you to contact me so that we can look at what you are seeing together.

Why do vendors prefer PDF?

PDFs print more consistently than printing from the application because there is less risk that the print settings will be changed by the press operator in the print driver. Also PDF files have “everything”. Have you ever sent a job to be printed and the shop had to call you to get fonts or images that were missing? 6

- Is it ok to make a CMYK color a spot color to get %’s vs. transparencies?

Yes, you can do this either way, but tint may preview and overprint other colors more predictably in some cases.

How do you recommend working with %’s of PMS swatch numbers?

This is just a matter of making a tint of the spot color in your design application. Pay close attention to the proof before going to press as sometimes tints can shift slightly in from the solid. PantoneLIVE does include tint values for printing on various substrates for critical printing applications such as packaging.