Hot take: Pantone swatch books are a waste of money these days

Back in the day i used my little fan deck constantly to match spot colors for letterheads. Last week i tried to match a deep navy from my 2020 book to a digital file and the print came out looking like muddy eggplant. The printer said my book was probably fading or the formula had changed. So i spent $250 on a new one and honestly i bet in two years it will be off again too. Has anyone else noticed their old swatch books are basically useless for digital to print matching now?

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1 Comment

ivancoleman14d ago

Feel your pain man, i just dropped cash on a new 2024 book and already had a burgundy come out looking like brick red last week. The color shift from one edition to the next is REAL and nobody talks about it enough. Makes you wonder if Pantone does it on purpose to keep selling new books every couple years.