The new Pantone Goe color system has been getting a lot of buzz within the industry. Some hail it for its vast improvements over the PMS system, others are weary that the Goe system provides no real incentive over the current PMS product.

Eddy Hagen managing director and trend watcher at VIGC (Flemish Innovation Center for Graphic Communication) sent the Print CEO an open letter to Pantone with his reaction to the new color system.

Concerning: Pantone Goe: lethal by design

With Pantone being the reference on color specifications, color communications, I was very interested to read about the launch of the new Pantone Goe system. And although it does have some nice features, especially the color communication using Lab, it is lethal by design.

Pantone CMYK conversions are a mess

Before going into the design error, I first must express my disappointment in the ambiguity of the launch: Pantone Goe is said not to replace the existing systems. This is a missed opportunity and it makes people think that you are only in it for the money, that you’re not trying to make the lives of your customers easier. In case you don’t know: the use of Pantone colors and especially the CMYK conversions is a mess. There are multiple versions of libraries (old and new), for different regions (Europe has specific libraries) and for some colors each and every one of these libraries shows a different CMYK conversion value. Try to look up Pantone 072 in following libraries: Pantone Solid to Process (the ‘old’ library, name: 072 PC), Pantone Solid to Process EURO (the ‘old’ European library, name: 072 EC), Pantone Color Bridge CMYK PC (the actual library, name: 072 PC) and Pantone Color Bridge CMYK EC (the actual European library, name 072 EC). All four of them have different CMYK values. You will have some proper explanation for these different values, but if the old libraries are not deleted when newer ones are installed and if the average designer doesn’t know about different libraries, we’re getting into a serious mess. So the exchange of color data in Lab is a blessing for the industry! But then Pantone Goe should replace the older systems, not complement.

Which RGB?

And then it goes completely wrong. You are missing a – very crucial – point. In your color guides and in your software, colors are also defined in RGB. Which RGB? That’s not in your product literature, nor in your white paper. Also your new Goe color guide (I have seen a sample) doesn’t say anything about which RGB color space is used, although this is essential information. So I went to your booth at the GraphExpo show earlier this week to find out more.

This is the conversation I had with one of your representatives:

Me: The coding in RGB of Pantone Goe colors in the color guides and in the software, which RGB color space is being used?

Pantone representative: “It’s RGB.”

Me: “But there are different RGB color spaces, like sRGB and AdobeRGB.”

Pantone representative: “It’s sRGB. Everybody is using sRGB.”

Me: “If you look at all the computers in the world maybe the majority, but in the printing industry, AdobeRGB has the widest use.”

Pantone representative: “Yeah, but there is only a slight difference between the two. The AdobeRGB gamut is a bit bigger, but this doesn’t affect our system that much.”

Me: “Are you sure?”

[Update It seems that Pantone has updated the white paper on its website today (13 September 2007, check the creation date of the pdf! http://www.pantone.com/downloads/articles/pdfs/GoeWhitePaper.pdf - when I consulted it a few minutes ago, the creation and modification date of the pdf were both 13 September 2007).

It now says that the color guide gives the sRGB values. I hope they will also mention this on their color guides, next to each color patch. And explicitly show it in the user interface of their software.

I have the 'old' version from the cached hmtl-version in Google and printed it to a pdf. If you want to compare it, we've posted it here: GoeWhitePaper_oldversion_from_Google_cache.pdf]

A little homework: delta E = 12

So I did a little homework. I took one of the color patches that is in your product literature: Pantone Goe 37-5-1 (a kind of purple). I created two documents in Adobe Photoshop, one with sRGB as its color space, the other one with AdobeRGB. Then I colored both with the RGB numbers you provide with the patch: 187, 53, 145. Just try it, you’ll be amazed what a difference you will see! The delta E*ab is nearly 12, even with the newer delta E 2000 it still is over 6! No difference said the Pantone representative?

Accurate color communication

Pantone Goe could have been a blessing for the industry, with color information being transmitted as Lab-values, not as CMYK-values. But if you already mess it up in the design phase, by not stating which RGB color space is intended for the numbers provided in the color guide and in the software, it’s just a missed opportunity. How could you ‘forget’, or not know such a basic, but essential issue? Aren’t you color experts? Doesn’t you website state “Colors, products and guides for accurate color communication?”

I hope that you see your mistake and will correct it as soon as possible, before Pantone Goe really hits the market. Otherwise Pantone Goe will give printers, designers and brand owners serious headaches, instead of making their lives easier.