X-Rite and Pantone have announced a new cloud-based initiative called PantoneLIVE. The service aims to provide centralized access to brand colour data. It will enter service on June 15.
Brand colour standards are the principal component to the system and are derived from real ink on real substrates using real printing processes. This allows brand owners to predict how corporate spot colours will reproduce on a variety of substrates, including brown corrugated, clear film and white polypropylene.
“Globally consistent colour standards are essential to brand identity. With supply chains made up of hundreds of different facilities scattered around the world, corporations struggle to control and maintain colour consistency,” said Dr. Sonia Megert. “PantoneLIVE is a dynamic ecosystem, open to all supply chain participants, which delivers consistent colour across the entire packaging workflow – from design concept to retail-store shelves.”
According to Pantone, one company, Chesapeake, a global producer of consumer packaging, was able to reduce colour variation by 84 percent while decreasing its stocked inks from 3,000 inks to only 537.
Sun Chemical and Esko have been named as “preferred partners” in the PantoneLIVE initiative due to their involvement in its development. Pantone assures users that any manufacturer’s ink will be able to take advantage of the system.
Access to the system will cost designers US$99, while those in pre-production and production will have to pay US$1,150 and US$2,650, respectively. A colour audit for a brand owner starts at US$4,500.
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