What Is Pantone (PMS)? Spot Colours vs CMYK in Printing

Pantone, or the Pantone Matching System (PMS), is a standardized colour system in which each colour has a number, such as PANTONE 186 C, and a published ink formula. A designer, a brand manager and a printer anywhere can name the same colour by its number instead of describing it.

On an offset press, a Pantone colour can be printed as a spot colour: ink mixed to that formula and run on its own plate. Most digital printing, ours included, works differently, building every colour from four process inks, CMYK.

Spot colour vs CMYK process

A spot colour is one premixed ink, so it is uniform and exact. CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) creates colour optically, from tiny dots of four inks laid side by side. CMYK covers a wide range of colours, but not every Pantone colour sits inside that range. Pantone publishes the closest CMYK equivalent for its colours, and for many of them the difference is barely visible.

Why a Pantone colour can shift on a digital press

We print on a Xerox Versant digital press, which uses four CMYK toners; it has no spot-ink stations. A Pantone colour in your file is converted to its closest CMYK build through our colour management. Most corporate colours land close. Some cannot: very bright oranges, vivid greens, saturated blues and violets, and all fluorescent and metallic Pantones fall outside what CMYK can reproduce, so they print as the nearest achievable colour. The paper matters too: the same colour looks brighter on coated stock than on uncoated, which is why Pantone swatches come in C (coated) and U (uncoated) versions.

How to send Pantone colours

Keep the Pantone swatch named in your file, or mention the PMS number to the shop, so we know which colour you are aiming for. If you have already converted it, use Pantone's published CMYK values rather than an automatic conversion. Keep the file itself in CMYK, as our CMYK vs RGB guide explains. For a colour your brand depends on, ask for a printed proof before the full run, and judge it in daylight.

Which one for your job?

Digital CMYK suits nearly every business card, flyer, letterhead and poster: brand colours come close, short runs stay affordable. An exact spot-ink match, contractual brand standards, fluorescents or metallics, needs offset printing with mixed Pantone ink, which we do not run; our digital vs offset entry explains the trade-off.

Common questions

What is the difference between Pantone and CMYK?

Pantone names colours made from premixed spot inks; CMYK builds colours from dots of four process inks. Many Pantone colours can be approximated closely in CMYK, but not all of them.

Can you match my Pantone colour exactly?

Not exactly, and no digital CMYK printer can promise that. We reproduce Pantone colours through CMYK colour management, which lands close for most colours. For a critical colour, ask for a printed proof before the full run.

What do C and U mean after a Pantone number?

C is the colour as printed on coated paper, U on uncoated paper. The ink is the same; the paper changes how it looks, which is why the two swatches differ.

Products where this term matters

See also in the dictionary: Digital vs offset printing, Paper weight and finishes, Vector vs raster · full dictionary