pageoneresults - 12:50 pm on May 3, 2006 (gmt 0)

I've found some tools online but they seem to be so far off in matching the colors. What is the best way to go about trying to come at least close to Pantone colors for a website?

Pantone makes an application called colorist which is great for finding the majority of standard Pantone colors along with their RGB and Hex values. It's $49.95 USD and is available from Pantone.

Pantone colorist [pantone.com]

Select PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEMŽ Colors from within your favorite application with PANTONE colorist. Version 2.0 features the latest sRGB, AdobeŽ RGB (1998) and HTML values for the coated, uncoated and matte libraries. Plus, pick the perfect color scheme at InspireME [pantone.com], a dynamic Web utility feature of PANTONE colorist.

As mentioned above, various programs come default with Pantone swatch libraries. If you are designing for the web, you'll need to use the Coated sRGB color space as this was designed for viewing colors on the web.

You'd be surprised how many different Hex values there are (06) for each of the Pantone colors. If you were to line them up side by side and view them via a monitor, you may not see much of a difference. But, in print is where the differences will be spotted.

Pantone produces a variety of printed color guides that are used in traditional print and other industries. There are coated, uncoated, matte, metallic, pastels, etc. selectors, each one serves a different purpose and it is all relative to the substrate being printed.

For example, let's say your client uses 185 Red for their logo. That 185 Red will look one way on uncoated stock and then another on coated stock. In this case, the client may want to choose 186 Red for coated and 185 Red for uncoated due to the shade differences when using different substrates. 185 Red on a coated stock appears differently than 185 Red on uncoated stock.

The InspireME [pantone.com] web utility that comes with the colorist application is really cool. It gives you various Pantone color palettes based on your primary chosen color. It's a neat little application to have especially if you design websites and need to match Pantone colors as closely as possible.

Remember, it's the coated sRGB color space that you'll want to use for reference on the web.

I don't really see a reason why webdesigners should worry about pantones anyway - they are only useful when producing artwork for print.

limbo, they are actually very useful when producing for the web also. When working with clients for their traditional print media, those clients want those same colors to translate to the web. Using the correct Pantone conversion formulas is an important part of the design process.