Design Post 2

 Earlier in the year while we were learning about printing and some manufacturing aspects of graphic design we went over a company called Pantone, which is a company that produces ink swatches and is host of one of the worlds only universally accepted string of recipes. Their main purpose is to ensure colors of ink and production remain consistent across the globe, for a company like Oreo (for the sake of example) can produce a package in Tennessee, USA or Tokyo, Japan and have no difference or change in the hues of their product. Earlier this week I found a video from Business Insider that went into detail about the company; Here's what I learned!

Monopoly

As stated above, Pantone is a very unique company, there are not many like it, because of this, Pantone has been able to surge prices and easily disregard any start-up company that tries to come near them. Pantone has the upper hand in terms of reliability, and now major industries will avoid printing companies if they don't use the system of codes that Pantone has produced. There have been a handful of companies before Pantone that functioned under a similar premise, but most were deemed obsolete by the masses or just couldn't keep up with Pantone's rise to the top. The company even goes as far as taking things to court to crush smaller brands, a company in 1968 named Para-tone felt the wrath of Pantone's legal team. Many designers feel they are pressured into spending hundreds into the brand.  

Not just paper

For the longest time I figured that Pantone only produced paper based products, their key sellers are usually these long, handheld flip books filled with swatches for quick reference and information. While watching the video they showcased a large variety of the products they sell. Their best-seller was the handheld swatch books I mentioned, but they also sell books, replacement swatches, merch like mugs and tumblers, computer software, and a revolving case that holds plastic swatches! Apparently the company recently started dabbling in coloring plastics, in the video they show some neat examples of the outcome!

Adobe Split

Before, Pantone had a deal with Adobe, which allowed designers to use their color codes quickly. However Pantone wanted more revenue for this and ended up ceasing their agreement with Adobe in October of 2022. Many designers were outraged, has the fee to now use Pantone colors in programs like Adobe ranged from $90-$400 a month! Later on Pantone decided to host it's own software, nut this hasn't won over many of their fans, stating its slow, outdated, and a hassle to use. The software plugin still only has a 1-star review, and now mostly acts as a landing page to further advertise their products.

Watch the video!

I recommend checking out the video!