History has proven that you can count on Pantone for interesting and innovative product announcements. This one is no different, starting with its name, ColorMunki. I spent an interesting and informative hour on a web conference last week with Doris Brown, VP of Marketing at Pantone, who kindly provided WhatTheyThink with an advance look at this product. The Pantone/X-Rite combination seems to be paying big dividends, and Brown pointed out that just six months after the acquisition, we are seeing yet another new product from the combined companies, who she indicates have not had the integration issues many acquisitions entail. And it won't stop there, according to Brown, who says, "Buckle up and watch us. We have a lot of things coming out in a short time. We have a deep understanding of how people are using our soltuions and what they want to do in the future."

ColorMunki combines critical tools professionals are using at all levels of production into one cost-effective, easy to use product and includes the ability to read colors accurately without a lightbox, perform monitor calibration and measure color coming off of an output device for full workflow color management. Brown says, "We have taken all of these tools, put them in a Vegematic and turned up the volume, bringing all that functionality into one device with a really cool interface that is easy to use."

ColorMunki comes in two versions at launch: one for professional photographers and one for the design market. A less functional Create tool will be available later. Each model is designed to specifically address workflow common to its market in a comfortable form factor.

Color management has often seemed overwhelming to many professionals, from both a process and a cost perspective. ColorMunki combines tools that would have cost at least $1,000 with a very simple user interface into a device that sells for $499. Create, when it is released later in the year, will sell for $149. As an introductory offer, the Pantone Goe Guide will be included with ColorMunki, a $149 value.

There are so many cool features with this innovative product that we don't have space here to write as much as we would like. We do recommend that you take a look at it. For example, color calibrating a printer is something I have never tackled, but I watched Doris calibrate a printer during the online demo, and even I could do this. You simply print out a swatch sheet, run ColorMunki over each of the five columns, automatically feed back the information through ColorMunki's USB connection, and create a named profile that can be stored in a library. Start to finish, three to four minutes! Designers can also use the tools and software to see if the color choices they are making will conform to various standards, such as SWOP or SNAP. Colors that cannot be created within those standards show up as grey or black swatches, so nothing is left to the imagination. Designers can also easily create custom color palettes and synchonize them into their document design software--Quark, InDesign, PhotoShop, whatever--eliminating the need to manually create them within each package.

You can even do word searches. For example, if you search on green, ColorMunki's software will pop up all colors that have green in their name and all photographs with green in them.