Controversial Topic: What’s up with Pantone?

I made a TikTok a few years ago that has been getting a lot of saves and views lately, and it’s most definitely not a coincidence. It’s a video that goes over how to find a Pantone color in Photoshop. Unsurprisingly, a lot of people are watching it right now because there isn’t an easy way to find color codes these days. Pantone is gatekeeping their color codes.

This issue has been going on for a little while. Pantone and Adobe stopped playing nice back in 2022, and Adobe began phasing out the color books in the swatch libraries.

Pantone’s  color system ensures your color will match EXACTLY regardless of where it is printed, which is helpful to maintain brand consistency across  different printers. Each printer may have a bit of color discrepancy, and different materials soak up color differently. The Pantone system is standardized with codes, swatches, and color breakdowns in their palettes, usually used by big corporations (think: Coca-cola red). Pantone is also known for releasing their “Color of the Year” which influences trends in design.

So, we should all be printing with Pantone colors to maintain consistency across all mediums, right!? Not necessarily. In my personal (and maybe controversial!?) opinion, Pantone is dying. And quite honestly, they’re doing it to themselves. 

Here’s why:

1. Pantone is more expensive to print, making it inaccessible to small businesses

2. Pantone color books are always being updated. Currently the Pantone Color Bridge Guide for Coated & Uncoated paper is being sold on their website for $436.00, which is expensive for smaller design studios and freelance designers to fork out year after year.

3. Previously (when I made my original TikTok) you could search the Pantone website for their codes and find the nearest CMYK, RGB, Hex breakdowns of your chosen color for free. This information is now hidden behind the Pantone Connect paywall. 

4. The additional color libraries which used to be in Adobe’s software are now only available in this Pantone Connect subscription as an extension.

“But we’re designers and color is important,” you say? Yes!! I agree! Which is why I paid for Pantone Connect subscription for two years. When I started paying for the Pantone subscription in 2022, it was $64.19 for a “single seat” use. I could stomach it. All of our branding clients receive their Pantone color breakdowns. 2023 rolled around, and I let the subscription automatically renew. Its importance was ingrained in me for brand consistency and print standards. Around that same time, I started asking our clients if they needed the Pantone colors when making their standards. All of them said no.

This year, I got the email that my Pantone Connect was going to renew again, but this time at the updated price of $96.29 for the year. Why are we paying for this service when our clients can’t afford to print with PMS colors anyway? It was time to cancel.

At the end of the day, we will still be asking our clients if they want or need their Pantone colors, and can always repurchase the service. Until that happens again, we’re on a break with Pantone.

To be honest, the designer in me is a little sad. Pantone was so cool when I was in college! You see the swatchbooks in all of the designer stock photos! You feel like you NEED them in order to be legit. However as time has gone on, Pantone and I have grown apart, and frankly, I’m sick of the price gouging.

If Pantone wants more people to print with their color system, they have to make it more accessible.