X-Rite helps brands, printers and packaging converters quickly and accurately produce PANTONE® 17-5104 Ultimate Gray + PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating using integrated workflow tools including PantoneLIVE, InkFormulation, and ColorCert quality control software.

Grand Rapids, Mich. – X-Rite Incorporated and Pantone LLC, global leaders in color science and technology, today announced that the official spectral color values for PANTONE® 17-5104 Ultimate Gray + PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating are now available in PantoneLIVE™, a cloud-based digital color standard ecosystem. PantoneLIVE integrates across X-Rite’s digital workflow tools allowing brands and their print suppliers to immediately start color matching, formulating and accurately producing Ultimate Gray and Illuminating for a variety of print, packaging, wide-format, signage, industrial, and multimedia design applications.

“A marriage of strength and optimism, Ultimate Gray and Illuminating do not have to be used in equal proportions, either color can take precedence whether for print, packaging, beauty, or home furnishings,” said Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute.

“Producing Illuminating for its highest visibility and impact or Ultimate Gray for its versatility in packaging and store displays will require the right color management software that can match the color across corrugated, film, offset and digital to ensure that all the components match,” said Ray Cheydleur, Printing and Packaging Market Manager, X-Rite. “Together Pantone and X-Rite provide designers, brands, and their print suppliers with integrated solutions to streamline the design to production process. This includes tools for digital color communication, ink formulation, color measurement and quality control.”

Specifying Ultimate Gray and Illuminating in Print and Packaging Design

Brand designers have two design platforms from which they can incorporate Ultimate Gray and Illuminating into their print and packaging design files. The new Pantone Connect platform provides designers easy access to Pantone Color Libraries and palette creation tools from anywhere via mobile app, Web, and within Adobe Creative Cloud. For packaging designers who need to visualize the impact of substrate, ink, and print process on their chosen color, PantoneLIVE Design simulates the appearance of Pantone colors on 36 packaging substrates so that the appearance of the final printed package can be evaluated.

Achieving Ultimate Gray and Illuminating in Print Production

To ensure consistent color matching across materials, Ultimate Gray and Illuminating can be matched to its best matching print colors Pantone Cool Gray 7 C and Pantone 106 C from the Pantone Matching System (PMS) Solid Coated system for graphics. Brand owners, commercial printers, and packaging converters can now use the libraries available through PantoneLIVE Production for Print & Packaging to access Pantone master colors and their corresponding dependent color standards to ensure that each color is accurately produced regardless of substrate, printing technology, or ink types used. PantoneLIVE colors are available within X-Rite's InkFormulation Software, Color iQC Software and the ColorCert Suite of tools, as well as within a variety of 3rd party ecosystem software partners, providing printers with a total Pantone color control solution.

Brands and print suppliers can use PantoneLIVE and ColorCert Suite as part of a larger packaging quality control program to consistently achieve Ultimate Gray and Illuminating across their global suppliers. The combined solution delivers end-to-end print quality process control and reporting. This enables transparent and real-time evaluation of print and color quality results using digital tools to eliminate the need for expensive and time-consuming on-site press checks.

For more information on producing Pantone Color of the Year 2021: PANTONE® 17-5104 Ultimate Gray + PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating using a print and packaging workflow, read our recent blog post: https://www.xrite.com/blog/pantone-color-of-the-year-packaging.