If your artwork is sent back with a warning message about the pantone, look below for the warning you received and see how to fix it.
Warning Message: PANTONE® color(s) were detected. An attempt to match these colors will be made. Due to the limitations of digital printing, some PANTONE® colors cannot be matched with 100% accuracy.
Warning Message: Your artwork contains PANTONE® color(s) that cannot be accurately matched. We only attempt to match PANTONE® colors with the suffix C (Coated), U (Uncoated), CP (Coated Process), or UP (Uncoated Process). Please ensure all PANTONE® colors match the above types if you would like them color matched. When designating PANTONES, please be sure to use the following naming convention: PANTONE (PANTONE® Number) (Suffix). Examples: PANTONE 185 C, PANTONE Red 032 C.
How To Fix
- Ensure that your PANTONE colors have one of the following four suffixes: C (Coated), U (Uncoated), CP (Coated Process), or UP (Uncoated Process).
- While we still cannot match these colors with 100% accuracy, it will be a much closer match than when trying to use PANTONE colors from another color book.
Warning Message: The PANTONE® color(s) referenced in your artwork cannot accurately be reproduced. Due to the limitations of CMYK color space, we cannot guarantee a close match to the color(s) that you defined in your artwork. For CMYK color simulation, please reference a PANTONE® Color Bridge book. Color deviations as a reason for complaint will not be accepted.
How To Fix
- Reference the PANTONE Color Bridge book that contains the PANTONE colors you’re using and provide us with the CMYK color simulations to provide as close a match as possible.
- For more information on how to convert PANTONE colors to their CMYK equivalents, see here.
Check out our article on How To Fix Pantone Warnings.
About Pantone Color Matching
Our policy states we can only guarantee color matches to C, CP, U, and UP suffix pantones (123C, 250CP for instance). We do not however print using Pantone inks and therefore some Pantones cannot be 100% matched, such as Pantone Process Blue C. In these instances, we attempt to get as close as possible based on our material color bars printed using our CMYK process.
Because we print using CMYK inks (think like an inkjet printer), we are unable to color match/print fluorescent and metallic Pantones. These are normally named in the 800 or 8000 range.
The image below is an example page from a Pantone swatch book. We will attempt to match the left-hand C pantone if that is the assigned color on the file in this example. If we are unable to, we will instead try to match the CP version of the same pantone. In some Pantones, this can mean a drastic color shift but such colors are few and far between. CP Pantones also provide an example breakdown in CMYK which we use as a guide, adjusting our colors to match the material based on their opacity and how well they absorb the ink.
We cannot color match to pantones from other color books or pantones with dashes ( ex. 16-3724 )
If you still have questions, don't hesitate to call our customer service team at 877-822-0201.