With the ongoing digital evolution of design workflows, there has increasingly been a need to close the gap between the physical and digital for designers.
The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated these challenges by rapidly replacing the collaborative, light-filled and resourceful design studio with virtual chats at living room tables, making design ideation and communication much more challenging. Communicating colour intent as part of design is a familiar pain point under normal circumstances, but becomes far more of a challenge in these remote settings.
As a result, Pantone LLC has expanded its Pantone Connect suite of products to bridge this gap and help designers adapt to what a changed workflow looks like post-Covid-19. Pantone Connect is a digital platform for designers that streamlines their colour decision-making and communication. The new platform provides access to all Pantone Colours through a single-user account across mobile, web, and the Adobe Creative Cloud applications and includes the first ever Pantone Color Match Card, a revolutionary credit card-sized target that calibrates a phone’s camera to capture colour from real life, match to Pantone Colours, and then save the colour into the designer’s palette workflow.
In addition to the Pantone Color Match Card, is Pantone Connect Mobile App (for iOS and Android). Merging physical colour with a digital workflow through an innovative approach, this Card-App pairing makes Pantone colour identification and communication from physical inspiration to final design a streamlined, accurate, and affordable option for large dispersed design teams and freelancers alike.
‘While designers have previously taken photos with their phone to capture Pantone Colours from images, the results were more inspirational vs. accurate due to factors like poor lighting and camera performance,’ said Nick Bazarian, Senior Product Manager for Pantone Digital Solutions. ‘With the Color Match Card and Pantone Connect app, a designer’s phone has now become a legitimate colour capture device to match the physical world more accurately to Pantone Colours, as well as a workflow productivity tool to shorten the colour communication process.’
This latest announcement builds upon the company’s 2019 launches of the Pantone Application Program Interface (API) and its Extension for Adobe Creative Cloud, by integrating with new mobile apps for iOS and Android and the Pantone Connect Color Finder web application.
Additional features include:
– Pantone Color Match Card calibrates a mobile device’s camera to more accurately measure a targeted physical colour, which is immediately matched to the closest Pantone Colour(s).
– Pantone Connect mobile app saves captured colours into palettes for sharing to social media or designing via the Pantone Connect Extension for Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop.
– Colour conversion to Pantone, improved digital navigation of the Pantone Colour Libraries, and inspiration features such as colour extraction from images, colour harmonies, and trending colour palettes.
– Pantone Connect’s expanded suite also serves as a newer alternative to Pantone Studio for iOS, and a replacement for some of Pantone’s pre-existing digital solutions, including myPantone for Android, the Pantone X-Ref web app, and Pantone Color Manager desktop software.
‘Our company has worked closely alongside creatives in the graphic, fashion, and product design industries to understand how colour can become an enabler of performance rather than a hindrance,’ said Adrián Fernández, Vice President and General Manager of Pantone. ‘Pantone Connect’s unique combination of technology (enabled by X-Rite), features, and platform accessibility will give designers the tools they need to be confident in their colour choices and ultimately successful with their creative work. They win with the Pantone Connect platform because their colour choice reflects an informed decision made efficiently and communicated effectively.’
Pantone plans to continue expanding the platform rapidly through 2020 and 2021, with further integration into the Adobe Creative Cloud ecosystem and other design tool platforms, as well connection to colour reader devices from X-Rite, Pantone, and third party Pantone licencee partners.
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