By Guest Contributor Tim Young

One of our 2010 Print & Media Conference attendees (she called it “fabulous” – had to share that) got in touch last month with this request for information:

“I just returned from a production meeting. The question of how Pantone’s DS color system compares with the PMS color system [came up]. Is there a short answer or can you point me to a good source of information? We have been using PMS for both digital and offset. I’m not sure I’ve ever had a file come to me with the DS palette.”

Luckily for me, Matthew McDowell of Pantone was a speaker at our November Conference, so I contacted Matt, who told me many others have also asked about the DS designation. That’s why I chose to make this a Print Tip.

Matt led me to Pantone’s Content Manager, Tim Young. Today’s Tip is by Tim.

What is the PANTONE CMYK Guide?
The new PANTONE PLUS SERIES CMYK Guide is a replacement for the PANTONE 4-COLOR PROCESS Guide, but is essentially the same product, with improvements.

The CYMK Guide (see Print Buyer Glossary section below for CMYK definition) is a library of 2,868 colors that can be reproduced using a 4-color (Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black) printing process.

It is important to understand that the 2,868 CMYK Colors comprise an additional range of color choices to the 1,341 PANTONE Solid (spot) Colors, found in PANTONE PLUS SERIES Formula Guides, Metallics, Premium Metallics, and Pastels & Neons Guides. The CMYK Guide does not contain process simulations of PANTONE Solid Colors (the PANTONE COLOR BRIDGE does that). The PANTONE CMYK Color library is designed to be used for additional inspiration and design specification, in conjunction with PANTONE Solid Color libraries.

What’s New
The old 4-COLOR PROCESS Guide contained 3000+ colors. A number of those hues, however, were found to be difficult to print, so they – along with a number of near-duplicative colors – have been eliminated. The resulting CMYK Guide features distinctly stepped colors in a streamlined book that still provides optimal creative choices while increasing workflow efficiency. Another improvement is that the new process guides are printed to ISO specifications and G7 tolerances, where applicable; this means that one guide can be used globally – there is no longer a need for separate US and Euro versions.

What’s Different
Because many PANTONE Process Color formulations have been updated in this new publication, a different prefix has been added to the CMYK Color numbers: new CMYK Colors have a P designation (e.g., P 122-3 C); the old Process Guide colors have a DS designation (e.g., DS 237-4 C). Note that the DS colors are out of date and should not be specified. (Emphasis is mine, not Tim’s.)

I want to thank Pantone’s Matt McDowell and Tim Young for their response to this question. For information about the PANTONE PLUS SERIES CMYK Guide, visit www.pantone.com.

© 2011 Margie Dana and Tim Young. All rights reserved. Your comments are encouraged. You’re free to forward this email to friends and colleagues. However, no part of this column may be reprinted without permission from the author.