1

The client gave us the Pantone color codes. These are used on health supplement product packets printing. But the codes can't be used on social media designs.

Is there any way to find the HEX or RGB for those codes? Like is there any option in Photoshop or Illustrator to convert them?

I tried the Pantone finder but it seems quite confusing. The search shows 2 colors. I'm not sure which should I use for designs. (Both colors look slightly different, so not sure which is correct. Would like to know difference. See the image below).

enter image description here

Here are 2 of the codes I'm talking about: 1925C, 637C

3
  • 1
    RGB == Hex. Mostly you can not.
    – joojaa
    Aug 26, 2019 at 14:32
  • @joojaa I didn't get this: RGB == Hex. Mostly you can not
    – Vikas
    Aug 27, 2019 at 2:32
  • 2
    What @joojaa means to say is that RGB and Hex are the same thing by definition. Hex codes are RGB values in hexadecimal code. The second part is--I think--him saying you can almost never match pantone colours exactly. Forgive joojaa's telegram/programmer style communication, it's just how he works :)
    – Vincent
    Aug 28, 2019 at 9:01

3 Answers 3

4

Adobe Photoshop's colour picker offers RGB and CMYK values for different Pantone inks. I'm not too sure how accurate they are, though.

  1. Open the colour picker in Photoshop;
  2. Click the button 'colour libraries';
  3. Open the 'book' dropdown list and choose the kind of ink--'Pantone solid coated' in your case;
  4. Key in the number of your ink, so it will show as selected;
  5. Press the 'Picker' key to return to the regular colour picker, which then contains RGB and CMYK values for the Pantone colour.

As with all colour management, getting perfect results is hard if not impossible. Nothing beats an actual print of different CMYK mixes and a physical Pantone Swatch Book.

6
  • They are very accurate, or atleast as,accurate as it gets. Certainly more accurate than panatones own values.
    – joojaa
    Aug 26, 2019 at 14:33
  • @joojaa you mean the color hex obtained from Photoshop method are accurate?
    – Vikas
    Aug 26, 2019 at 14:59
  • @Vikas Yes, accurate for your monitor.
    – joojaa
    Aug 26, 2019 at 15:12
  • @joojaa what about other users who'll see my designs?
    – Vikas
    Aug 26, 2019 at 15:13
  • 1
    There is not much you can do to accurately present color to random.strangers. @Vikas So the answer is no color shows accurately for them so it does not matter.
    – joojaa
    Aug 26, 2019 at 15:25
1

The link you are using (Pantone Color Finder) is not giving you multiple options. It is giving you the exact information you're looking for. Search for one of those colors. It is giving it in C and CP likely because of the fuzzy search it uses. But if you're looking for 637C then use the one that says 637C not 637CP. That gives you the following values:

  • RGB - 78 195 224
  • HEX/HTML - 4EC3E0
  • CMYK - 62 0 8 0

The difference between them can be found: Are these Pantone colours all the same?

Essentially the C is the actual Pantone coated. The CP version is a CMYK approximation of the Pantone coated. If you look at both on the Pantone website you'd see the RGB and HEX values differ but the CMYK values are exactly the same for this reason. The true Pantone is the C.

4
  • Kindly check the edit :)
    – Vikas
    Aug 26, 2019 at 14:58
  • @Vikas your edit clearly shows 1925 CP and 1925 C exactly what I answered for you
    – Ryan
    Aug 26, 2019 at 15:05
  • I guess I didn't know much about CMYK. Does it mean CMYK is basically the color of real ink? And not like RGB?
    – Vikas
    Aug 26, 2019 at 15:12
  • 1
    @Vikas comments are not for asking follow-up questions. Please use the search function and if you cannot find your answer then create a new question.
    – Ryan
    Aug 26, 2019 at 15:18
1

The answer @Vincent gave is correct in my opinion. I just feel like clarifying a bit (without getting into too many details).

A PANTONE Color Book in Adobe's applications is basically just a list of PANTONE colors with corresponding Lab values. (I know because I once hacked my way through decoding them for a hobby project).

They are stored in .acb files located in your ...\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC 2019\Presets\Color Books folder.

The Lab values of the color books comes from making physical prints with the actual physical PANTONE inks and then measuring the resulting color with a measuring device.

No information is giving about exactly which paper has been used or the settings of the printing device, so the measurements are only 100% accurate under the exact same physical conditions as the test print was made under. There are many different paper stocks, printing devices and settings in existence, so the color books are just trying to give us some kind of realistic average (in lack of better words).

The C in the given color codes indicates that you should use the PANTONE+ Solid Coated color book which is based on prints made on coated paper.

When you add a PANTONE spot color swatch in Illustrator or InDesign, you are adding another physical ink to your document. So in addition to the CMYK inks you now have a fifth ink, which must be printed separately (and will increase the cost of printing). You can convert a PANTONE spot color swatch to CMYK or RGB. The color settings of your document will dictate which color profile is used. Beware that many PANTONE colors can't be reproduced satisfyingly with CMYK (or even RGB). That's why they exist in the first place.

When you choose a PANTONE color in Photoshop's color picker and use it to paint on layers or for a solid color layer, it's always converted from the Lab color of the color book to the color mode (RGB or CMYK) and color profile of your document. You can't paint on layers with PANTONE colors!

If you wanted to create a Photoshop document with true PANTONE spot colors, you would have to work with channels, but that's a whole other story.

Your best bet for reproducing PANTONE colors on the web would be to work in sRGB (which is the closest we come to a universal standard) and convert your PANTONE swatches to sRGB. You could also just keep them as PANTONE swatches and wait with the conversion until you export for web.

Since most people don't have color calibrated screens, you'll have to live with the fact that your colors (PANTONE or not) will be displayed differently on different screens.

If you were to make it even more "scientific" you could use a measuring device to measure the actual Lab color of the print on the product, but the color might be outside sRGB gamut and, as mentioned, who knows how it's displayed on all the different screens of the world?

1
  • A side note: Understanding PANTONE colors can be very confusing. Partly because the information given by the company is often self-contradicting and pseudo-scientific. It's just a product, not a scientific standard for measuring colors.
    – Wolff
    Aug 27, 2019 at 22:20

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.