PANTONE color is wrong

[JAKE2000]

I was working with my companies logo and noticed the Pantone colors were wrong.

The colors used in our logo are:

PMS 2747
PMS COOL GRAY 10

Xara reads these as
2747 CVC
COOL GRAY 10 CVC

Visually the colors look much different. To work around this I got the RGB equivalent from Adobe Illustrator and used RGB instead of Pantone.

How do I fix this? Is it possible to download a Pantone library?

Jake

[JAKE2000]

I was working with my companies logo and noticed the Pantone colors were wrong.

The colors used in our logo are:

PMS 2747
PMS COOL GRAY 10

Xara reads these as
2747 CVC
COOL GRAY 10 CVC

Visually the colors look much different. To work around this I got the RGB equivalent from Adobe Illustrator and used RGB instead of Pantone.

How do I fix this? Is it possible to download a Pantone library?

Jake

[JAKE2000]

.

[amoore]

There are several contributing factors here.

1) The color you see on the screen doesn't necessarily match the color that's output, particularly when you're outputting to print. That's because colored light and print pigments have very different ingredients. In addition, each software application and each output device processes color a little differently from all the other applications and devices. As if that weren't enough, there are multitudinous palettes and color systems to add a few more complications to the mix.

My company's logo color is PMS 321, which is a rich teal in print. In Xara 2, PMS 321 looks bright green on screen. In Ventura Publisher, it looks blue gray on an image I import from Xara and a bit more green if I apply the color in Ventura itself.

2) Xara 2 included palettes for Pantone Spot Colors (PMS 321 CV) and Pantone Process Colors (PMS S244-1 CV might be the closest I can come if I try to match the 321 spot color on the screen). Xara X has three Pantone palettes, none of which have a CV in the color name, although if I import into Xara X a 321 CV object created in X2, the color name shows in the Color Gallery as 321 CV.

3) If you're planning to use the logo online, RGB is probably the way to go.

If you're going to print via an inkjet, you'll need to do some experimenting to see what color in Xara comes out on your printer looking most like what you expect.

If you're going to print via film and it's a spot color job, it doesn't matter whether the color matches. You just tell your printer that the spot color is PMS xxx.

If you're going to print via film and it's a four-color or process job, someone else will have to help you. (Sorry, I don't do process. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] )

And if you find an easier solution, please call collect. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Allison

[Sean Sedwards]

Jake

This sounds like a variation on the "Why does my artwork look different in PhotoShop?" question. The answer is that Illustrator changes the way it displays an image depending on the format, i.e. CMYK or RGB, in order to more accurately represent the final product, i.e. print or screen. This can be confusing if you're not used to it.

As I frequently point out, CMYK is an output format designed to be sent to a printer or press, so PhotoShop and Illustrator display such colours using their equivalent of Xara's "Show Printer Colours". Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & blacK are real printing inks which are only similar to the ideal on-screen colours of the same name and print out darker. Pantone spot colours are printing inks in their own right but may be converted to CMYK or RGB for process printing and screen display respectively.

RGB is an idealised computer format that can display a wider range of colours (or gamut) than can be printed in CMYK. Since video cards and screens vary, PhotoShop & Illustrator also alter the appearance of an image to compensate for these variations, so even an RGB image may appear different to how it does in other apps. It's important to remember however, that only the appearance is different - the actual data in the file is the same. Hence, a Pantone colour exported from Draw, say, as both a CMYK and an RGB TIFF will likely be displayed as two completely different screen colours by Illustrator.

The bottom line is that you should stick with the Pantone names in Xara if you intend to have your artwork professionally printed, using the "Show Printer Colours" command to judge the appearance. If your artwork is for screen display or desktop printing, you may get a better colour match with RGB 50:23:123 and 71:71:71 (picked off the screen in printer colours mode).

Regards - Sean