My buddy the sign painter told me to stop using Pantone swatch books

Guy I know, Dave, has been painting signs by hand for 30 years. He said my digital swatches are garbage and I should just eyeball it like he does. So I matched a client's logo to the nearest PMS color on my monitor and the printed banners came out looking like mustard instead of gold. How do you guys handle color matching when the client's dead set on a specific brand shade?

2 comments

2 Comments

simon_chen5d ago

Dave's right about screens not being reliable for matching, but you also need a physical PMS fan deck to compare under good lighting. That way you can show the client the actual paper swatch before you print.

iris_park4d ago

Grabbed a couple of the coated and uncoated swatch books from amazon last year and they've been a lifesaver for that exact reason, so I'm totally with you @simon_chen.