Pantone Brown
For the past couple of weeks I've been developing a new identity for my business. Not a radical departure from the web site, but a simplified, professional identity that will be used in everything from business cards to envelopes, letterhead, media stickers, and anything else I can stamp with my hot little branding iron.
Since most of the work I produce is digital these days, I haven't dealt with good ol' CMYK in quite some time. For years I worked pretty much exclusively in print, producing brochures, annual reports, newspaper ads, magazine ads, specialized promotional mailings, and just about everything else you could imagine. Put simply, I lived in Quark all day. Imagine the fun.
I blew the dust off my Pantone Formula Guide (which now appears to be sold in three fan-style books instead of one - bah) last week, and started matching up my custom CMYK values to PMS. Then, creeping back like a bad memory, I realized one thing I hate about print.
Pantone doesn't do brown.
Brown is dependable, mature, professional, but utterly lost with Pantone's PMS mixes. Of the 1000+ PMS chips in the guide, there is one strip that appears sorta-brown. The rest have too much orange, too much green, or too much blue. There is not a pure, raw B-R-O-W-N in the book.
A deep, rich, solid brown can only be achieved (as far as I know) by printing process colors, namely shelling out the cash for a four color print job when you should theoretically only be paying for one (PMS color). All because Pantone doesn't offer a suitable mix. Or do they?
Like most print designers I know, the Pantone formula guide is the universal book of PMS colors everybody (including printers) works from. But I've never used hex, or any variant from the norm. Any Pantone pros out there?
Comments
what about 4625u?
(but my pms book is from 1995! i think the colors may be a little off)
Posted by: lisa at June 29, 2002 11:18 AM
After having visited your domineydesign website I realized the trip was too short, and, that I had been wearing a wide grin through out my stay. Love it.
Posted by: tomas at June 29, 2002 12:42 PM
Former print designer myself. Designed a job for a private client last year, and instead of the deep maroon/burgundy Pantone reference I wanted, the printers managed a very good approximation of muddy brown, so it is possible >:(
Amid all the talk of different platforms, set-ups, browsers and compatability issues etc. in web design and all the associated headaches, it should be remembered that at least a certain percentage of your audience will be able to see what you intended them to see. In print design, if your printers screw up your job, *no-one* will see what you what you were really going for...
Posted by: Rick Monro at June 29, 2002 4:46 PM
Yeah, 4625U is pretty close, but not quite right. It seems a little...flat to me. Stale. I was actually alternating b/w 4625 + 469. Trouble is, I also want it to be uncoated, so paper soak will factor this as well. Ugh.
Posted by: Todd at June 29, 2002 6:49 PM
I don't have extensive printing experience but have you tried other color systems like Toyo (http://www.toyoink.com) or Focoltone? Check out their palettes in Photoshop. I don't how many inks printers stock but maybe you'll find a brown in something other than Pantone.
Posted by: Lauri at June 29, 2002 8:13 PM
If I'm remembering correctly, you're right. There exists some forms of brown on the PMS but none of them are good. However, a good printing firm should be able to mix up one for you. (Try to find something that has the colour you want to use as a reference though.)
Posted by: Nicklas at June 29, 2002 8:17 PM
Pantone has released what they deam "designer-inspired" colors, including several browns, try 7516 and 7517
Posted by: ben at June 29, 2002 9:00 PM
Gettin in here late in the game, but you could go for a 2 color PMS mix. If you still have a copy of Quark 4, you can use the Multi-Ink feature to mix a brown that works. For example, PMS 470 @ 100% mixed with PMS 5773 @ 80% (both uncoated) makes a nice rich brown.
Posted by: Kristian Walker at July 1, 2002 8:06 AM
I don't know what UPS uses (maybe a custom mix) but here is a page that lists "fun facts" about UPS and brown: http://pressroom.ups.com/about/facts/0,1703,377,00.html
Posted by: John Driscoll at July 1, 2002 9:41 AM
Great idea Kristan. I completely forgot about that feature (my rusty Quark days are slowly coming back to me now).
Posted by: Todd at July 1, 2002 12:50 PM
