Making Sense of the World of Pantone

First of all, what or who is Pantone? According to Pantone they are “The worldwide standard for color communication and inspiration since 1963.”

They go on to say, “Over the last 45 years, Pantone has expanded its color matching system concept to other color-critical industries, including digital technology, textiles, plastics, architecture and contract interiors and paint. It continues to develop color communication tools for a variety of industries and aggressively adopts new digital technology to address the color needs of design and production professionals.”

That’s all well and good, but how does that help us in the graphic design industry? For those of us working in the suite of Adobe applications, the Pantone Matching System (PMS) is the salt, pepper, sugar, ketchup, mustard and ever other spice and condiment on the creative dinner table. But how do we keep up with changes and additions to the world of PMS colors?

To keep up with changes and additions to the PMS color libraries you could try perusing the Pantone website. But you may get hopelessly lost. It is a profoundly content heavy site that may lead to nothing but confusion.

THE CURRENT CONFUSION: 

Pantone Matching System v. Pantone Plus Series

The current version of Adobe’s Creative Suite is CS6. But, as things usually go in our industry, most of us are hesitant about adopting the new version until it’s been tried and tested by others...and also have to wait for the corporate budget makers to approve new software purchases. So that means that most of us are still working in CS5...at best.

The problem here is that Pantone has replaced the Pantone Matching System with the Pantone Plus Series. But the Plus Series is not available in Adobe CS5 or earlier apps. Adobe’s CS6 applications have moved on to the Plus Series. This leads to problems when down-saving a CS6 file to an earlier version. For one thing, the Plus Series colors look different in CS5 and earlier. Another problem is that you may get an error message saying something to the effect of ‘the version of your app does not support the color libraries in the file you are attempting to open.’ This leads to another issue.

The Plus Series was released with 1,341 colors. And then they released a supplement to the Plus Series referred to as ‘336’. Pantone says these 336 colors will “Unleash Your Passion”. Really? I think it’s more like they printed thousands of books and guides, then realized they were missing a bunch of pages, so they had to come up with some marketing mumbo-jumbo to sell these additional colors.

So you can buy these new Plus Series printed guides, along with the supplement, but you can’t add the supplement digitally to your version of CS6 without first buying Pantone’s new Color Manager software for $49. I’ve provided the link on the 'cheat sheet’ below.

On the ‘Pantone Cheat Sheet’ below I’ve added a link to a page on Adobe’s site which helps with some of the issues using CS5, CS6 and the new Plus Series.

PANTONE CHEAT SHEET

What I will attempt to do here is provide this Pantone Cheat Sheet providing essential Pantone information that may be useful to graphic designers, production designers and printer reps working with files generated in the suite of Adobe graphic design applications.

Pantone Color Finder

To quickly find a color based on a number you are provided, use this Pantone Color Finder:

http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/colorfinder.aspx

Pantone Numbering System Explained

This is a useful page on the Pantone site that helps to break down all of the color systems and numbering schemes. Take your time and read this page. It really helps.

http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg=20051&ca=1

Working with Adobe Applications: Pantone Matching System v. Pantone Plus Series

This is a link to a helpful page on Adobe’s site which assists in making sense of how the earlier Pantone Matching System and the new Pantone Plus Series relate to the version of Adobe apps you are using.

http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/pantone-plus.html

The Essential Printed Formula Guide (Fanbooks) and Solid Chip Books 

If you need to update just the staple Pantone formula guides and solid chip books that we are all familiar with, these are the links to those guides and solid chip books. If you buy either of these sets of books you are eligible to download the new Pantone Color Manager software for free.

The new Plus Series Coated & Uncoated Formula Guide Fanbooks:

http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=998&ca=1

The new Plus Series Coated & Uncoated Solid Chip Books:

http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=999&ca=1

The new Plus Series Color Bridge Coated & Uncoated Formula Guide Fanbook:

http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=1002&ca=1

Pantone Color Manager Software

There is no more free lunch from Pantone. You used to be able to go to the Pantone site a download the digital library plug-ins for your Adobe Apps. No more. You must buy ($49) the new Pantone Color Manager software to download and install the library updates. And even though Adobe CS6 comes with the new Plus Series libraries, it does not come with the 336 passion unleashing colors. If you want to unleash your passion you must click and buy from the following link.

http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=1017&ca=1

Adobe Community Color Management Discussion Forum

There are a number of issues that arise when working with color in Adobe apps using the Pantone color systems and libraries. This Adobe color management discussion board can be very helpful.

http://forums.adobe.com/community/design_development/color_management

Mobile Apps

I highly recommend downloading the myPANTONE app for either iPhone, iPod Touch or Android. There is also the myPANTONE X-Ref for iPhone and iPod Touch. A really cool feature of these apps is that you can click a photo of anything and the app will give you a set of PMS colors that match colors in the image. 

Read more about these apps at the following links:

myPANTONE 2.0 for iPhone and iPod touch: 

http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=980&ca=86

myPANTONE for Android: 

http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=1150&ca=86

myPANTONE X-Ref for iPhone and iPod Touch:

http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=997&ca=86

Design/Production Team Structure & Production File Terminology

Design/Production Team Structure:

It is important for any design/production team to understand the nature of the files that exist throughout the duration of any project. From the genesis of a design concept to the final release of a file for print or on-line there can be assumptions that lead to confusion about the function and usefulness of some files.

Part of the challenge is to understand the structure of your team. Clarify roles and responsibilities and what is expected of the files on which each person works. The best case scenario is that you are the client who has their own in-house design and production team with direct relationships with print vendors. Team structure and communication should be less of a challenge in that case. The worst case scenario is that you are the client working with multiple design agencies, studios and print vendors. In that case, you need to clearly layout expectations in a concise manner and educate all involved parties. If you are just one of the cogs in the wheel of this client/agency/studio machine, make sure to ask what is expected of you...if you haven’t already been told.

The most important information to clarify is to find out from the individuals receiving the files from you what they need to successfully accomplish their tasks.

What I am attempting with this posting is to delineate these design and production files with terminology that I've grown accustomed to throughout the years.

Production File Terminology:

DESIGN CONCEPT - This is as it states...a design concept based on the project creative brief. This can take any form from pencil sketch to a polished layout. Design Concepts can be delivered as laser or ink jet prints, presentation boards, PowerPoint/Keynote presentations, PDFs, etc. When dealing with packaging, these are usually just principle display panels (front panels). These files do not go to the printer. But you may want to share with your printer or production team for input on what is possible to achieve in printing.

MYTH: Do not share design concepts with print vendors or production personnel as they will stifle your creativity. 

NOT TRUE! I’ve heard this a few times throughout the years. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, you may get the occasional production naysayer who will discourage you from attempting certain design challenges in print. But more often printers and production personnel can and will suggest techniques that a designer may not be aware of, and in the end, the creativity will be enhanced.

DESIGN PRESENTATION -  After the initial concept phase has passed and more polished designs have been worked on you will start generating design presentation files. These are more polished layouts that will be delivered as laser or ink jet prints, presentation boards, PowerPoint/Keynote presentations, PDFs, etc. These files do not go to the printer but you may want to start sharing them with printers or production personnel.

FINAL DESIGN - After a number of Design Presentations, the Final Design file will start to be built out. The Final Design file will contain more final content, such as final copy and final photos and illustrations. In the case of packaging, all panels will be fleshed out during this phase. (HEY DESIGNERS! Remember to add some extra image for bleeds.) The Final Design will, most likely, go for a number of approval rounds before it is FINAL Final. Once this Final Design is approved it will go to the Production Design team. The Final Design will not go to the printer, unless there is an arrangement with a printer that they create the Production Design file.

PRODUCTION DESIGN - This is the file that goes to the separator or printer (they are usually one and the same). This is usually the file that causes the most confusion. This file is created from the Final Design file. The Production Design file is what used to be called the Mechanical or Camera Ready Art. It is not a file that can be directly separated into print plates. It is the file that the printer uses to create a file that can be separated to the various print plates. The Production Design file is just a file that assembles all design elements and color specifications into an easily digestible format that makes the task of creating print separations a bit less arduous. This file is usually CMYK with a few spot colors added. Sometimes the Production Designer will create spot color channels in the Photoshop PSD file, but will most likely generate their own spot color channels using the Production Design file channels only as reference. The most important aspects of this file are organized graphic elements, clear design intent and precise color specifications.

DIGITAL SEPARATIONS - This file can used to generate printing plates. All colors have been properly tagged and separated out for easy generation of plates. The printer/separator who created this file can use it themselves to go to press or they can send it to third party printers for plate generation and print runs.

Drag-and-Drop Not Working in Adobe Illustrator

One of the handy features within Adobe applications (not to mention most apps these days) is the ability to drag items from one document to another. But one glitch may occur when doing this in Adobe Illustrator. You may see the following alert pop-up when this happens.

This frequently happens because there are guides within the group (or groups) that you are dropping into the new document. As you are dropping the group in the new document Illustrator is being told that a new element is coming in that wants to go beyond the maximum artboard area. I say 'frequently' because that alert doesn't always pop-up. Sometimes Illustrator let's you go beyond the max artboard area. Sometimes this alert can be avoided if you have 'Paste Remembers Layers' checked in the Layers panel. But there doesn't seem to be any steadfast rule for when and why this happens.

The best thing to do is to always delete your guides after using them or before dragging-and-dropping. Ideally, as a common practice, you should delete any guides (View > Guides > Clear Guides) that are no longer needed. The inclusion of guides also adds to the file size. They don't add much to the file size, but deletion of the guides is one step towards a smaller file size.

Show All Hidden Objects in Illustrator

You will find at times when opening an Adobe Illustrator file from one of your co-workers, or other source, that the file contains a link that doesn't actually display in the document. So that tells you two things. One is that the linked file is not needed for the design and needs to be deleted. The other thing that you are being told is that the link is, obviously, being hidden somehow. So how do you find this hidden link?

One quick way of finding hidden links or objects in Illustrator is to select Show All from the Object menu. This will display any object, whether it is a linked file or internal vector object, that resides on a hidden layer or sub-layer. You can then select the objects that appear and delete them.

Another possibility is that hidden objects may be included in a masked group. In that case you have to peruse your layers and sub-layers to find that masked groups. When you find the clipping masks, hide the mask by clicking on the eye icon at the left, in the Layers panel, to hide the mask and reveal all masked objects. If you see any stray objects outside of the masked area, delete it, show your clipping mask again and save your document.

Would You Like a Side of Curly Apostrophes with Your Layout?

Foot marks instead of curly apostrophes. They are everywhere! On bus sides, billboards, print ads, TV ads, etc.

The use of foot marks (prime mark) instead of apostrophes were once a pet peeve of mine until I had to swallow my sensibilities and accept it as a natural development in this age of computers on every desktop making everyone an instant designer. And, in turn, causing the closing of typesetting shops.

But when I see the prime or foot mark (above right) instead of the typographically correct curly apostrophe (above left) on ‘professionally’ designed documents that come across my desk, I don’t cringe, I just correct. And you should try to as well.

To add the proper curly apostrophe, simply highlight the offending foot mark, then type Option-Shift=] (on a Mac), ALT 0146 (on a Windows PC). In HTML it is &#0146. Some leniency should be extended to the use of curly apostrophes in web browsers, e-mail apps, and other digital vehicles. You can do all you can to set the correct character in digital code, but not all browsers, apps or operating systems are created equal. The apostrophe may convert back to the prime mark or some other odd array of characters.

But when it really comes down to it - does it really matter if you use curly apostrophes? If you’re just concerned about content...no. If you’re concerned about layout design and type design...YES! Type designers take great pains in designing apostrophes (and quote marks) that work with the other letters of a particular font. I’m sure they take some pains in designing a prime mark, but essentially it really is just a serviceable character to denote a foot dimension.


If you’re curious about the proper use of apostrophes, I dug up the following information courtesy of GrammerBook.com. It's handy information to have.

Apostrophe Rules

Rule 1

Use the apostrophe with contractions. The apostrophe is always placed at the spot where the letter(s) has been removed.
Examples: 

don’t, isn’t 

You’re right. 

She’s a great teacher.

Rule 2

Use the apostrophe to show possession. Place the apostrophe before the s to show singular possession.
Examples:
 
one boy’s hat

one woman’s hat 

one actress’s hat 

one child’s hat 

Ms. Chang’s house

NOTE: Although names ending in s or an s sound are not required to have the second s added in possessive form, it is preferred.
Examples: 

Mr. Jones’s golf clubs

Texas’s weather 

Ms. Straus’s daughter

Jose Sanchez’s artwork 

Dr. Hastings’s appointment (name is Hastings)

Mrs. Lees’s books (name is Lees)

Rule 3

Use the apostrophe where the noun that should follow is implied.
Example:

This was his father’s, not his, jacket.

Rule 4

To show plural possession, make the noun plural first. Then immediately use the apostrophe.
Examples:
 
two boys’ hats 
two women’s hats 

two actresses’ hats

two children’s hats 

the Changs’ house

the Joneses’ golf clubs 

the Strauses’ daughter

the Sanchezes’ artwork 

the Hastingses’ appointment 

the Leeses’ books

Rule 5

Do not use an apostrophe for the plural of a name.
Examples:

We visited the Sanchezes in Los Angeles.
 
The Changs have two cats and a dog.

Rule 6

With a singular compound noun, show possession with ’s at the end of the word.
Example:

my mother-in-law’s hat

Rule 7

If the compound noun is plural, form the plural first and then use the apostrophe.
Example: 

my two brothers-in-law’s hats

Rule 8

Use the apostrophe and s after the second name only if two people possess the same item.
Examples: 

Cesar and Maribel’s home is constructed of redwood.
 
Cesar’s and Maribel’s job contracts will be renewed next year.
 
Indicates separate ownership.
Cesar and Maribel’s job contracts will be renewed next year.
 
Indicates joint ownership of more than one contract.

Rule 9

Never use an apostrophe with possessive pronouns: his, hers, its, theirs, ours, yours, whose. They already show possession so they do not require an apostrophe.
Correct:
 This book is hers, not yours.
Incorrect:
 Sincerely your’s.

Rule 10

The only time an apostrophe is used for it’s is when it is a contraction for it is or it has.
Examples:

It’s a nice day.

It’s your right to refuse the invitation.

It’s been great getting to know you.

Rule 11

The plurals for capital letters and numbers used as nouns are not formed with apostrophes.
Examples:

She consulted with three M.D.s.

BUT

She went to three M.D.s’ offices.

The apostrophe is needed here to show plural possessive.

She learned her ABCs.

the 1990s not the 1990’s

the ’90s or the mid-’70s not the ’90’s or the mid-’70’s

She learned her times tables for 6s and 7s.
Exception:

Use apostrophes with capital letters and numbers when the meaning would be unclear otherwise.
Examples:

Please dot your i’s.

You don’t mean is.

Ted couldn’t distinguish between his 6’s and 0’s. 

You need to use the apostrophe to indicate the plural of zero or it will look like the word Os. To be consistent within a sentence, you would also use the apostrophe to indicate the plural of 6’s.

Rule 12

Use the possessive case in front of a gerund (-ing word).
Examples:

Alex’s skating was a joy to behold.

This does not stop Joan’s inspecting of our facilities next Thursday.

Rule 13

If the gerund has a pronoun in front of it, use the possessive form of that pronoun.
Examples:

I appreciate your inviting me to dinner. I appreciated his working with me to resolve the conflict.

Courtesy of GrammarBook.com
© 2012 GrammarBook.com

Hidden Type Gem of Adobe Illustrator - The Glyphs Panel

The Glyphs panel in Adobe Illustrator is a bit of a gem when it comes to typing special characters. The Glyphs panel will give you all of those special characters that we all have to type from time-to-time. But we don't always remember the key commands to get those characters. It's handy to know those key commands, because it makes the copy input go a bit faster. That's why I've included links below to download key command charts for Mac and Windows keyboards.

But with the Glyphs panel you don't need to read charts or memorizing key commands. If you keep the Glyphs panel open while you're typing you can simply double-click on a character while your typing cursor is active and the character will be magically inserted for you.

You access the Glyphs panel by going to the Type menu and selecting Glyphs. Also under Window > Type > Glyphs. Or keep the panel handy in the panel bar.

The Glyphs panel is also a great quick reference to see exactly what characters are available in any selected font. For example, the first illustration below shows all of the characters available in Helvetica. A monster selection! The second illustration shows the much smaller characters set available in Papyrus.

Another handy feature of the Glyph panel, when using an OpenType font, is the addition of sub-menus which categorize the character sets. See the third illustration below. In addition, when selecting a character in an OpenType font, you can select Alternates for Current Selection to see the alternates for that particular character. See the fourth illustration below.

Charts for Typing Special Characters

All of these charts are courtesy of Washington State University

Typing Special Characters on a Macintosh:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7aNwhAU1TXaREJpZlNYTVJ3WE0

Typing Special Characters on a Windows English US International Keyboard:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7aNwhAU1TXac014NGw1SUpaMlk

Typing Special Characters on a Windows Standard English Keyboard:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7aNwhAU1TXaQkdpa3hvYnlTSjA

Illustration One: Helvetica - Entire available character set displayed in Glyphs panel.

Illustration Two: Papyrus - Entire characters set displayed in Glyphs panel.

Illustration Three: OpenType font category sub-menu available in Glyphs panel.

Illustration Four: 'Alternates for Current Selection' feature for OpenType fonts in Glyphs panel.

Obtaining Company Logos in Vector Format...for Free

Frequently we designers and production folk need to get our hands on vector versions of company logos. Mostly, it's for assembling presentations or design layout options. But also for final files going to print or web. If you are not able to get the logos directly from somebody at the various companies or corporations, you need to find your own resources. There are a few on-line resources that I've used or have heard about. There's also one trick that I've used to scavenge vector logos.

Here are the resources and the one trick.

On-line Resources:

Brands of the World - http://www.brandsoftheworld.com
This is the one with which I've had the most luck. You register for free and have access to a vast library. The search is quick and the results are clearly displayed and easy to download.

Seek Logo - http://seeklogo.com
This one is very clean and straightforward AND seems to have a library of vector logos as vast as Brands of the World. You can also register with this site, but it doesn't seem as though it is required to download the logos.

La Logotheque - http://www.lalogotheque.com
I'm not a big fan of this site, but it's an alternative if you strike out at the other sites. The logo library is not as vast as the other two listed above. It is also a very cluttered site that makes it a bit overwhelming to focus on what you are looking for.

The Alternative Trick:

Pulling a Vector Logo from a Company PDF
This one has worked for me 95% of the time. What I do is to go to the company website, usually the corporate level site, look for an annual report, newsletter, news release or some such official corporate document. This has also worked for me when looking for product logos. Usually, the parent company will have product logos in their annual report or similar document. Most of the time these document layouts are created using vector logos.

Download and view one of these PDFs to see if the logo you need is on any of the pages. If it is, open the PDF in Adobe Illustrator. If it is a multi-page PDF you will be presented with an 'Open PDF' dialog box that will allow you to click through thumbnails of the pages so you can open the specific page you need.

Once the page with the logo is open, click on it or view in Outline mode to see if the logo is vector. Copy the logo, then paste into your layout.

Clean Your Swatches or You Won't Get Dessert

The Swatches panel in Adobe Illustrator is a frequently visited, yet somewhat misunderstood tool.

First of all, it's the one place you can quickly see what colors are being used in your document. But that's only if you choose 'Select All Unused Colors' from the panels option menu. Then choose 'Delete Swatches' from the same options menu. This is something you should frequently do so you can keep focused on your color usage in your document.

A frequently mistaken notion about the Swatches panel is that the colors in the panel are all in the document. Whereas it is a good idea to delete unused swatches for organizational reasons, it is not essential to the functionality or printability of the document. It's the difference between the word 'has' and the word 'uses'. Look at it as an artists canvas and paint palette. Just because an artist has thirty separate dollops of color on their palette doesn't mean they've used those thirty colors on their canvas. If somebody proofs your file and tells you you've made an error by having too many swatches in the file - just nicely point out to them that it is not an error and why, but then clean up the swatches just for the sake of it.

Where it may cause errors is if you use too many spot colors. But more often than not you will get a message when trying to print to a home or office printer that your document uses too many spot colors. Keep in mind your final printing method and pare down colors accordingly. If the job is going to be printed professionally on a litho or similar press, find out from the print vendor what their maximum press colors are and adjust your file accordingly. It's usually six to eight colors. If it is strictly a CMYK job, you can have a multitude of swatches. Just make sure they are set as process colors instead of spot colors.

One annoying thing the Swatches palette does in Illustrator is the reappearance of deleted swatches. On occasion they'll just pop back into the palette after you've gotten rid of them. Not sure why this happens, but again it's not a error that will lead to the dysfunction of the file.

There are also useful, yet sometimes, problematic issues that happen between Illustrator and Photoshop and their shared color palettes. But more on that in a future posting.

The Mysterious Opacity Mask feature in Adobe Illustrator

The Opacity Mask feature in Illustrator is a bit of a mystery because some people may not be sure when to use it or how to use it. And, even more mysterious and daunting, sometimes Illustrator decides on it's own when to use an opacity mask.

To answer the 'when to use it' question, just ask yourself "Does the graphic or logo I'm creating contain gradations which blend into transparency and will that transparency appear in front of various backgrounds?" Assume the answer is "Yes!" every time. You never know what use your graphic will have in the future. This is especially so for logos which will be used in a multitude of printed and digital situations.

An example of Opacity Mask usage in a logo is the Verizon logo. The 'v' mark and the tail of the 'z' both have gradations which fade to transparency. These gradations utilize an Opacity Mask to ensure smooth blending into any background of which the logo appears in front.

To answer the 'how to use it' question is a bit more complex. First of all, when thinking of an Opacity Mask you have to think only in black, white and grayscale, and you have to think in reverse. An Opacity Mask utilizes black for hiding and white for revealing. So if you have a square box with a linear gradient with 100% black on the left running to 100% white (0% black) on the right, the graphics on the left will not be seen, but as the gradient blends to the right, the masked elements will come into view.

And where the heck is the Opacity Mask feature? It's in the Transparency panel. The Opacity Mask works by making the topmost element a mask for any object or objects below which are selected to be masked.

There are two ways to create an Opacity Mask. The first way is to select one or more objects, whether vector or bitmap or both, then open the Transparency panel, click on the options drop down menu, then select Make Opacity Mask. A black square thumbnail will appear on the right in the Transparency panel. Click on this thumbnail to be brought into the Opacity Mask layer. At this point anything placed on the artboard will become the mask. What you'd put on this Opacity Mask layer is a shape containing a gradient. To get out of the Opacity Mask layer, click on the left thumbnail in the Transparency panel. This takes you back into the standard art layers, giving you access to the art being masked.

The second, and most probably, the best way to create an Opacity Mask is to create a graphic or logo with a topmost gradient object, select the gradient object and the object(s) behind, then open the Transparency panel, click on the options drop down menu, then select Make Opacity Mask. This time the black square thumbnail on the right will contain a thumbnail of the mask. The thumbnail on the left contains the object(s) being masked.

To edit an object with an Opacity Mask, select the object, open the Transparency panel to view the Opacity Mask options. Clicking on the right thumbnail gets you into the Opacity Mask layer. You can then move the mask object or change the gradient to update the mask. Clicking on the left thumbnail gets you back into the standard art layers.

How do you know if you have an object with an Opacity Mask in a file that you receive from somebody else? When an Opacity Mask is applied to an object, that object will appear in a sub-layer with the name of the sub-layer underlined with a dashed line. Follow the steps above to edit the mask.

What I've attempted here is just a quick explanation of the Opacity Mask feature in Illustrator. I will follow-up with a posting containing a step-by-step illustrated tutorial for creating and editing an Opacity Mask in Illustrator.