Pantone is a well-known name in the public eye. This name is primarily known to designers who actively study the Pantone Matching System to master the system of matching colors. The Pantone library is the standard for the correct creation of drawings with perfect color rendition. Simply put, if a designer creates a drawing on a Pantone-certified monitor, then this drawing is transferred to paper or fabric, and Pantone-certified printers or printing presses are used; it guarantees an exact match of the tones of the drawing.
Pantone History
Pantone began in the 1960s as a printing company but soon noticed a gap in the printing industry – an adequate standard for accurate color reproduction needed to be. In 1963, Pantone introduced its first Pantone Matching System, containing 500 colors. Since then, the system has expanded significantly to include over 1,300 colors spread across various media – paper, plastic, textiles, and even digital libraries. In 2007, X-rite, a leading color measurement and management product manufacturer, acquired Pantone, an essential step in its development.
Benefits of Pantone Validated certification
Pantone Validated certification confirms that a monitor or TV can accurately reproduce colors from the Pantone library. Of course, this is more important for monitors, but for TV manufacturers, it is more of an advertising and marketing tool than a professional tool. As designers, in their work, more and more use graphic tablets and monitors, there was a need to create digital libraries. That’s why Pantone colors were developed – Pantone LIVE, a digital library version and a cloud-based service. The goal of PantoneLIVE is for everyone involved in the process – from brand owners, designers, and press operators – to have access to a single database of color values. Since all colors are in the cloud, this provides a single standard for creating an image and transferring it to paper or fabric.
Choosing Pantone-certified monitors
The question often arises: Which monitor should I choose that is Pantone Validated? The choice may depend on budget and calibration needs.
Factory Preset Certified Series: These monitors have been certified at the factory during production and are ready to use immediately without any additional customization. However, if the environment in which you will be using the monitor differs from the factory, some colors may not be Pantone-compliant.
Custom Calibrated Series: These monitors must be further calibrated to match the Pantone library depending on the environment, lighting, location, and so on. They are factory-calibrated, but after purchase, you must make finer adjustments. For this purpose, the monitor manufacturers develop specialized software that you install on your computer and then calibrate the monitor.
