What are Pantone colors?

PANTONE® is a color mixing system in which one or more spot colors are mixed and then used for printing.

PANTONE® is a standardized colour mixing system from the USA, in which one or more solid colors are mixed from 14 colors, which are then used for printing. CMYK, on the other hand, is the most common color system for printing in offset, digital printing or on laser and inkjet printers. Here the print color is mixed by screening from the basic colors cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black). The PANTONE® color spectrum includes more colors than the CMYK color system. The PANTONE® colors are clearly identified by a number code and are mixed uniformly worldwide. However, as PANTONE® colors are used as solid colors, the desired spot color is mixed first and then used as a separate printing color. Printing with PANTONE® colors therefore generally requires at least five colors: CMYK + PANTONE® spot color(s). The individual colors are selected with the help of color fans and color tables.