Typophile

Pantone Color Bridge: Spot or Process?

zoya37

Hi all,

[My apologies for cross-posting across forums.]

At my urging, the organization I work for has agreed to choose just one color of red for their logo and branding materials (when I started here there were four different colors of red being used inconsistently).

I am working with CS2 programs on a Windows PC, Windows XP, Service Pack 2. The majority of our materials are print, and we have a small website that basically supports our printed material (curriculum for nutrition education) and is not emphasized as a marketing tool (yet).

The director has settled PMS 199. The problem is, 199 in process is not the same color (at all). So, I need to create a process swatch for our four-color print jobs. When I choose 199 in the old Pantone Solid to Process color library (Pantone 199 PC), I get a process swatch. When I chose 199 in the new Pantone Color Bridge Coated Color Library,(also Pantone 199 PC), it shows as a spot color. Am I missing something? The colors in Pantone Color Bridge, marked PC, should be the process equivalent to the cooresponding spot color, no?

In Illustrator, I can manually change the color to process in the swatch dialog box, but is that really just a "faux" process, similar to a "faux" italic in type? Will this make the printer hiccup?

Am I better off just creating a process swatch and globalizing it?

Also, are there pitfalls to either swatch solutions I should look out for or discuss with my printer?

Thank you so much for any and all input.

jupiterboy

I don't know the color bridge technology, but you should pic a solid that will convert well to process.

The Pantone guide, to me, is odd. I can often produce a better match with a custom mix. What I look for is a good synergy where the process match doesn't have any particularly small percentages of any process color. For example, no process color below 10%. That ensures that even low end projects/printers will be able to hold the mix well.

It helps to have a calibrated process proofing system with all your apps talking ICC. Still, you might even run your mix swatches out from different workflows (PDF, Photoshop, etc) and see how consistently the mix swatch renders.

Other tips would be to stay away from black in the swatch mix so the printer can focus on the density of the black for the type without scewing the color.

Tiffany Wardle

I think the biggest problem is that it is a red. Pantone reds are notorious for looking dead when converted to process. However, if you have a good relationship with your press perhaps they can help you with that?

jupiterboy

Red is bad, so is blue.

Looking at my process book the Pantone S 111-1 looks like it isn't bad.

C-10
M-100
Y-60
K-0

Given any printer will show variance in those percentages over a run, you've at least got a little cyan to put some punch in that purple cast.

Patricia Fabricant

It's also virtually impossible to judge a print swatch from its appearance on screen. The tints appear not to match but then in print maybe they do. Or vice versa.

zoya37

Hi all,

Thanks for the comments; I always appreciate them!

Unfortunately, PMS 199 is here to stay. It doesn't have any black in it so it screens back without getting greyish (although, of course, it goes pink!). If you look at the color bridge swatch fan (not the screen -- I never chose colors based on what they look like on screen) you'll see that the spot color translates into process fairly well. C =0, M - 100, Y = 65 (formerly 62) and K = 0. It is a much better transition than, say, 1787 C.

My question is this: Why is the swatch 199 in Color Bridge color library showing up as a spot color and not a process color in my files? Aren't the Bridge colors (PC and UP) process?

Thanks!
zoya37

jupiterboy

I've got an older version that doesn't have the RGB values in the swatch book.

I think you will need to spec a Pantone process color rather than the PMS color to get the process mix you want. If you let the software do the conversion of a PMS color each software will make its own conversion.

My point was that you can make a better match than what the Bridge or Pantone to Process swatch books show. Get a Pantone process book and compare it to the Pantone formula guide. That will get a good match that can be refined more if you want.

zoya37

Great; thanks, Jupiterboy. I appreciate it! Have a good rest of the day.

mili

The Pantone Euro Solid to Process gives 100m 60y for 199C. Looks pretty good in the printed fan, a touch pink, perhaps.

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