At this year’s HOW Design Live conference, we got to take some time to chat with our friends at HOW about creativity, inspiration, and why we go to events like this one. This year’s Chicago experience was amazing, and we’re looking forward to attending in Boston next year as HOW authors, as well! Here’s a little edited tease of great HOW authors and creative personalities, including James Victore, Sally Hogshead, Darius Monsef, ourselves, and more.

Note: In our last installment we walked through the release of Pantone’s Goe system, and the lessons learned from that product’s lackluster launch. Those insights fed directly into changes to the Pantone Matching System (PMS) that culminated in this year’s launch of Pantone Plus. Now, we’ll dig into the details of the this brand new system, and what it means for designers, printers, and anyone else involved in laying ink on paper.

Plus One? The Pantone Plus System
After Pantone Goe failed to catch on with its core audience of graphic designers and printers, the braintrust at Pantone realized there was still an unmet need in those communities. Also, the storied color matching system, PMS (Pantone Matching System), was crying out for a refresh. So Pantone took the best parts of Goe and the foundation of PMS, fusing them together to form the new Pantone Plus System.

We got the inside scoop on Pantone from Giovanni Marra, Pantone’s Director of Corporate Marketing. To add a more diverse set of views, we also interviewed a select group of offset printers (Elk Grove Graphics, Darwill Press, Van Lanen and Lithographix) and ink manufacturers (Sinclair Ink Systems) to get their input.

Introduced in May of 2010, Pantone Plus fills in existing gaps in the PMS color spectrum by adding new hues, while simultaneously incorporating some of the advances of the Goe system. There’s more to the Plus development story than that, so here are some of the specifics:

Something Old, Something New
While Plus does replace the PMS system, Pantone made sure not to repeat the mistakes it made with its release of Goe. This new system includes all of the old PMS colors, including the original metallics and neons. Those original ink formulations have not changed, and Pantone has added 556 brand new colors to “fill in the holes”. While no color names have changed, the familiar swatchbook layout is significantly altered. Each swatchbook is now organized chromatically rather than numerically, changing the sequence of many of the colors. (There’s an index if you need to look up a color by its number, however.)

Marra gave us some info on how Plus has been received thus far. “At the HOW Conference,” he said, “people loved the new chromatic arrangement. If you’ve been using the book for a long time, it takes a little getting used to. But people like the new colors.”

Additions To the (Color) Family: Neons and Metallics
In addition to the new spot colors sprinkled throughout the spectrum, Pantone Plus introduces a slew of new swatches into the neon and metallics categories. This includes 42 new neons (previously there were only 14) for total of 56 neon colors. Also, 300 new “premium” metallic colors have been added to the already-existing 300. Just don’t toss away your current metallics swatchbook—these new metals stand alone in their own book, labeled “Premium Metallics”. The metals also have upgraded ink technology behind them. “The new metallics are a much higher luster and have a cleaner feel to them,” Marra said. “They are made with a higher metallic base than the old ink. These Premium Metallics are ‘non-leafing,’ meaning the metallic particles lay flat so they have greater brilliance and luster, especially when coated.” Also, the new neon colors have been moved, and are now located in the Pastels and Neons book.

Listening To Your Printers
Pantone has also responded to critical feedback from printers that came with the Goe system, and acted accordingly with Plus. This new system utilizes the 14 traditional PMS base ink colors that printers are accustomed to. Marra explained, “We changed the ink film thickness on all the new colors, but not the old colors. It’s easier for printers and designers to move from PMS to Plus, because there are no new ink bases needed. Printers can keep using the same ink bases they’ve been using for years.”

Adoption costs for printers are also less than they were with Goe. Todd Petzak, Pressroom Manager of Van Lanen, explained: “The advantages for us as a printer are basically having an easier system for mixing colors and finding colors within the Pantone Plus library.” Printers just need to purchase the new swatchbooks, since all PMS-ready printers already have the 14 needed ink bases. However, this transition is sometimes easier said than done in the current economic climate, as Todd Mason, of Elk Grove Graphics said. “We need a minimum of nine new guides plus additional formula guides for each press. These guides represent a significant investment in the new Pantone Plus system — well over $1,000 for our shop. On our end we will need to update our system settings, to proof the new colors accurately.”

To offset (no pun intended) some of the costs of purchasing new swatchbooks (and to update your faded swatchbooks), Pantone has initiated its Chip-In program, where you can get a $25 rebate for every swatchbook ($50 for chip books) you exchange when purchasing the new Plus system swatchbooks.

Mason sees a mixed bag with the changes: “The PMS system is the backbone of our industry. We are familiar with the colors and how to match them consistently. The problem is, Pantone needs to reinvent itself quite often to bring in new revenue. We really have too many choices when it comes to spot colors. So many colors are similar enough that when printed on different stocks they will appear to be the same color. It makes ink mixing difficult and overhead expenses higher as our inventory needs are increased.”

Our Review of the Plus Products
After a detailed look at the Plus system and swatchbooks, here is our take on it. [Full disclosure: Pantone provided Hexanine with a set of Pantone Plus swatchbooks for review.] Overall, we are very pleased with the new colors and changes that make up the new Plus line. Pantone seems to have taken the best parts of the existing PMS and moved them forward to provide more options for everyone—designers and printers alike. And what designer doesn’t want more color options?!

We applaud that Pantone has carried over its “Color Checker Light Indicator” from the Goe line, at the back of the swatchbooks. The checker is a set of two colors that look identical in corrected, neutral “daylight”, but color shift apart if viewed under poor lighting conditions that will affect color viewing. This is especially helpful for designers with color-sensitive clients who like to look at proofs and pieces in fluorescent or incandescent lighting conditions.

Our critiques of the Plus system are relatively minor. The new swatchbook color arrangement isn’t a big issue—after all, most designers will be searching visually (by color) anyways. But it would have been helpful to see which colors are newly-added, as a quick reference. As it stands, there is no easy way to know the difference, except to view the old PMS and new Plus swatchbooks side-by-side. Some sort of subtle notation within the Plus swatchbooks would be much-appreciated.

The new metallic colors are welcomed, and serve as a much-needed addition to that part of the Pantone line. We are excited to have so many new options in that arena. But on the flip side, referring to the neon additions as “new colors” seems like a bit of an exaggeration. The new colors are more like tints of the 14 original neon colors rather than completely new hues. Whether this was an ink technology hurdle or just a weak effort, it falls short. It would have been nice to have some truly different neons.

The Plus system also lets you download the color libraries for use in the Adobe Creative Suite apps and QuarkXPress with the Pantone Plus Digital Libraries software. The color libraries are simple to download and install, and you don’t even need to restart your design applications.

While these libraries are available for download on the Pantone site, we were dismayed to see a confusing message when registering our new swatchbooks. (You can now register your swatchbooks on the Pantone website.) The registration site and confirmation email gave us following error in red type: “We apologize that the installer for Adobe Creative Suite is not yet available. Please check back in a few days.” This inaccurate and unfortunate programming hiccup will probably confuse early adopters, since the color libraries are available elsewhere on the site. This problem could frustrate designers who register their swatchbooks, and could mistakenly slow use of the Plus system by designers.

Final Analysis
In the end, we believe that Pantone has respected the legacy workflows of PMS while injecting some needed energy into their color matching system with a bevy of new colors. Pantone Plus seems like a worthy successor to the PMS system, and unlike Goe, designers and printers can basically keep all their entrenched practices intact. Todd Petzak, of Van Lanen, summed up the future well: “As printers, we are open and ready to implement these colors. Designers are the ones that will drive the popularity.” We see no reason why designers and printers won’t adopt the new system wholeheartedly with their next upgrade of swatchbooks, and add a whole lot of color to our world.

Have you had experience with the new Pantone Plus system? Or have additional questions? Please weigh in with your comments below. Thanks!

What is Pantone?
If you’ve ever held color-printed piece in your hands, there’s a good chance you’ve been touched by Pantone. The self-described “authority on color”, Pantone has become an integral part of graphic design and printing, greatly influencing the color of our world. Since 1963, Pantone has been the force behind the printing industry’s color standard, the Pantone Matching System (PMS). PMS is a standardized color reproduction system whereby different manufacturers and printers can accurately reproduce the same set of colors without direct contact with one another. This is significant for brands, because of the importance that consistent color reproduction has on brand identity and packaging. Color plays such a crucial role in brand association that some companies even commission their own colors. (Tiffany’s, well-known for its signature teal blue, actually has its own custom, trademarked Pantone color, PMS 1837.)

In the last 40 years, Pantone has become the de-facto print color standard  by eclipsing its competitors and evolving into other arenas. But despite Pantone’s ubiquitous presence in the drawers of any self-respecting designer, and its use in all major design software, the company has recently made some significant product line changes—changes which are important to anyone who needs to select or print colors. We’re hoping to break down these changes and give designers, printers, and color aficionados some much-needed insight. In our first installment, we’ll discuss Pantone’s Goe ink system. And then, in part two, we’ll give you the latest on Pantone’s brand-new replacement for the PMS, called Pantone Plus.

We got the inside scoop from Pantone while talking with Giovanni Marra, Pantone’s Director of Corporate Marketing. To add a more diverse set of views, we also interviewed a select group of offset printers (Elk Grove Graphics, Darwill Press, Van Lanen and Lithographix) and ink manufacturers (Sinclair Ink Systems) to get their input.

Get Up And Goe Got Up And Went
After nearly 50 years, Pantone decided it was time for a change, and it did so with some fanfare, by launching a brand new color matching system, called Goe (and pronounced “go”). But what was the impetus for this launch?

Giovanni Marra said, “Over the years we have added colors, because designers always want more colors to choose from. The [swatch]books turned into a haphazard arrangement of colors, because we would always add new colors onto back of the book. It was easier because of mathematical numbering, but not intuitive. In 2007, were looking at how to upgrade the system, and integrate the features people were asking for. After a lot of research, we came out with Goe. It was laid out scientifically, in chromatic arrangement, with easy steps between colors, making it easy to find colors and work through the book,” Marra explained.

The Goe system yielded 2,058 colors, a system that could work alongside the original PMS, as well as features intended as benefits for printers. The Goe system uses 10 base inks instead of PMS’ traditional 14, which was less total inks, but still a completely new set of inks for printers to purchase. These new base inks allow for an expanded color gamut, and Marra explained Pantone’s intentions in using the new base inks: “With Goe we tried to make the system more easily printed,” he said, “because some colors can shift if they are coated certain ways. Most printers know how to get around these issues, but we wanted to fix them. We had to change some of the ink bases to deal with these coating issues.” For both designers and printers, employing the Goe system meant adapting to an entirely new numbering system as well, a huge change from the nearly-sacred numbering system of the traditional PMS. This change wasn’t received very well.

Why Goe Didn’t Take Off
Goe was launched with good intentions, but didn’t yield the results Pantone hoped for. “It never took off the way we thought it would,” Marra mentioned, “because people are very comfortable using the PMS system, and in general were very resistant to changing.” Right off the bat, the Pantone marketing was confusing. From the designers’ side, it wasn’t clear how Goe would relate to its older brother, the storied PMS. Was Goe meant to replace PMS? Or could the two be used in conjunction? The new numbering system and similar-but-not-identical colors just raised more questions. This put off many designers who were either annoyed or confused. Why mess with a tried-and-true system that seemed to work fine?

Printers were also not thrilled with elements of the system. Todd Mason, from Elk Grove Graphics, explained, “To date I am not aware of any jobs at our shop that specified using a Goe Pantone color. It really has been a flop because it requires printers to stock ten additional mixing colors. These colors are only slightly different in color to the original PMS system.” Marra is well aware of such sentiments: “There was resistance from printers because they had to inventory new ink bases, and they would sometimes be resistant to changing their workflows even when designers spec’ed the new Goe colors.”

Also, Marra said that international branding projects suffered too. Because of a lack of awareness of Goe overseas, design firms were hesitant to specify Goe colors that would need to be printed outside of the US and Canada, for fear that they would be sacrificing crucial color matching needed for important branding projects. In short, if your designs don’t include legacy PMS brand colors and your final products are printed stateside, you can use Goe spot colors comfortably and exclusively. And there are some colors unique to the Goe system, which can be a competitive branding advantage—though it’s not easy to figure out which colors those are.

Packaged To Goe
Despite all of these strikes against the Goe system, this isn’t the occasion for a eulogy. Pantone continues to support the product line, thanks in part to the packaging industry. This design niche has embraced Goe moreso than others—mainly because all the Goe colors can be coated without color shifting. “The packaging industry picked up Goe very well because if the similarity to flexo, being easier to reproduce because all colors are the same ink thickness, making it easy to run the jobs,” Marra said.

Our Review of The Goe Products
In the rear view mirror, it’s obvious that Goe wasn’t the success that Pantone hoped for. It might not be an ideal tool for specifying color, but you might still find the system useful in some ways. Here’s what we thought of the Goe swatchbooks and system overall. [Full disclosure: Pantone provided Hexanine with a set of Goe swatchbooks for review.]

With the Goe swatchbooks themselves, the new color arrangement isn’t a big problem, but it would have been more helpful to see which colors are similar to existing PMS colors. As it stands, there is no easy way to compare similar PMS & Plus colors to Goe, except to view the books side-by-side. Some kind of subtle notation, conversion tool, or documentation would make it much easier to use. However, Goe has made one excellent technical contribution to the line, in the form of the “Color Checker Light Indicator” at the back of the swatchbooks. The checker is a set of 2 colors that look identical in corrected, neutral “daylight”, but color shift apart if viewed under poor lighting conditions that will affect color viewing. This is especially helpful for designers with color-sensitive clients who like to look at proofs and pieces in fluorescent or incandescent lighting conditions.

The Goe system also lets you download the color libraries and myPANTONE palettes for use in the Adobe Creative Suite apps and QuarkXPress. Installation of the libraries is simple enough, just requiring a self-installing download that adds the new Goe palettes to your design apps, without even needing to restart the applications.

The myPANTONE palettes creator is a standalone app for generating color palettes. This application is clearly meant to be a value-add for the Pantone set, but it seems like an unnecessary inclusion. Almost any creative professional worth their salt already has a way of creating palettes that typically revolves around their current applications. Why would you need another application to complicate your workflow? There are also other, more-useful applications like Adobe’s Kuler which has now worked itself into the native Creative Suite applications. Overall, Goe has some interesting characteristics, but nothing that would cause us to abandon PMS and years of experience using the old Pantone system. In that respect, Goe was a failure, though it might have some life in it as a niche product. Pantone seems to think so, and time will tell.

The Future Of Goe
Goe isn’t going anywhere right now, Marra explained. “Goe is still gaining in popularity, and combining the systems, you have a greater range of colors,” he said. “Our experience is that once people get over the hump of trying it, they generally like it. We are still supporting Goe, even though it’s not going to be significant in the market. But there are people who like it, and so we are still supporting it.” To that end, Pantone has also lowered the prices to help speed adoption. “Designers and printers were comfortable with the Pantone Matching System,” he said, reiterating reasons for the birth of Goe. “But we knew we needed to add more colors into the range that people would use. Designers were still wanting more colors.” These insights led directly into the creation of the brand-new Pantone Plus system, which we’ll discuss in our next installment. Stay tuned!

We’d love to here from those of you who’ve had experiences with the Pantone Goe system, so please tell us your stories in the comments below. Thanks!

Part of Hexanine’s core value is to give back in meaningful ways, using our time and expertise to help others. We’ve mentioned before the great work that Erin Huizenga’s EPIC organization is doing, and our part in it. We talked with Chicago Tribune “Minding Your Business” columnist Ann Meyer about the experience of working with Literacy Chicago during an EPIC creative rally. Print version of article with photo.

At Hexanine we’ve always been interested in practically using our design and branding skills to give back. Over the years, I’ve experimented with different ways of doing “pro bono” work to worthy organizations. Some have been individual relationships based on need, others were group efforts intent on doing more for cash-strapped non-profit organizations (NPOs). But I’ve never had a more focused, fulfilling experience than my time as part of an EPIC creative team earlier this year.

EPIC is a non-profit organization founded by Chicago design veteran Erin Huizenga, and she has rallied a team of great people around her to provide the framework for great work created for worthy NPOs. In my “creative rally” group I was teamed with a handful of other creative professionals to work with the great organization, Literacy Chicago. Not only did the experience yield great thinking and excellent work for Literacy Chicago, but the process was incredibly rewarding, stimulating, and gratifying. EPIC is the rare idea-turned-reality that shows how huge an impact design can have. Erin is also a good friend of mine, and she kindly agreed to an interview to tell us more about EPIC.

Tim Lapetino: You founded the non-profit organization EPIC. Could you describe its mission and vision to us?

Erin Huizenga: Our mission is to engage creatives in social change. We are doing this by putting together teams of creatives, who don’t normally work together, to do great things for nonprofit organizations. In the future as we get larger, we hope to begin to grow to a national level, to offer workshops to non-profit organizations and board of directors training to creative professionals!

TL: For EPIC creative “rallies”, teams are hand-picked from qualified volunteers, to provide balanced teams who will best be able to meet the NPO client’s needs. My particular team included two designers, two copywriters, a project manager, photographer and a creative director. The size and breadth of that kind of team seems like a luxury for most NPOs, and even many typical client projects! Why did you settle on this way of working, and how is it different from a lone designer volunteering with an NPO?

EH: It’s different in so many ways: teams get an opportunity to work with a team of folks they have never met or worked with, thus learning the concepting, designing, production habits/styles of many different avenues of experience. These people also get to work with top, award-winning creative director leaders, and the creative directors get a chance to mentor/coach/learn from people who don’t work for them–freeing them to have fun with the relationships and the work. Friendships and new networks develop while the NPOs get an amazing amount of thought capital and RANGE of talent from the team, rather than from just one individual. Also, commitment is inevitable since the team is signed up and accountable to one another.

TL: How did the format (the creative director’s firm serves as host office and meeting place) and process of the EPIC creative “rallies” develop? Did you have a previous model to follow?

EH: The idea of meeting together at an office is inspired by how we work as creatives in the corporate, or real, world. I see EPIC as a new model of design office, having many collaborators who work at night for clients they are sincerely passionate about. We “rally” together because we are all that committed and passionate about seeing change. We aren’t paid and no one has to be there because it’s a “job”. Everyone commits to it because it’s part of who they are. And through that, EPIC becomes a movement–an expression, an ownership, an outward remark on who we are as a body of creative professionals who believe that we can make a difference with our amazing talents.

TL: You are a veteran in the Chicago design scene and are connected to many of the great designers in this city. Can you tell us about your design background, and how did those experiences shape your vision for EPIC?

EH: I have been fortunate to work for some of the best design and marketing agencies in the great city of Chicago. SamataMason, VSA, gravitytank, jones, IDEO, and others. There is nothing better than a great solution for a great client at the perfect time. As I’ve worked with hundreds of creative professionals over the years, I noticed that so many people wanted a venue or some mechanism for giving back with their extreme talents. They wanted something more meaningful than simply taking over some NPO freelance work or volunteering over a weekend here and there. This is how EPIC was born, from an insight that we could make giving back more meaningful and inspirational…and have fun doing it.

TL: What led you to the creation of EPIC? How did it come about?

EH: The inspirations began with dozens and dozens of journal entries. I was writing down ideas about others around me who inspired me at the time–things that were already happening that I respect and admire. And my husband and I started to brainstorm about what a business model could look like for EPIC–how could it function most realized? Then I started to draft a written plan that would make sense to people who read it (not just my crazy journal!) and began to recruit board members who believed in my idea, and who were passionate, committed people as well.

TL: What has the response been from those nonprofit clients involved?

EH: Every nonprofit has been intensely thankful for what EPIC has been able to offer them. Creatives who come together can accomplish SO much in such a short time period. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from NPOs that say it best:

“I want to thank you for the brilliant work you’ve carried out with EPIC over the past several months on behalf of Literacy Chicago. As the effort wraps and our new materials soon become a reality, the depth of your accomplishment is all the more impressive and humbling. How can we ever thank you for assembling the team and doing such a wonderful work for us? I hope you can understand the magnitude of your efforts, and how much good an organization like EPIC does.” -Barry Benson, Executive Director, Literacy Chicago

“The Organic School Project staff gasped in AWE when we initially opened the home page. AWE, you guys. Everybody loves it, and we are so happy to finally be entering the 21st century with a website that works for us instead of against us!” -Sen Haines, Organic School Project

Also, we’ve just begun our EPIC Fellow program. Our 2010 winner is a recent MBA grad who will be helping us to build case studies and a case study template by researching and interviewing our NPO clients to gain insight into measuring just how much of an impact EPIC rallies have had/will have on NPO organizations. This will help us to grow fans of EPIC and donors/partners to EPIC because they will quickly see how EPIC makes an impact.

TL: As I mentioned earlier, my team and I had an excellent experience working together for the first time. It is different working with people you don’t know, while still being tied together by the bond of all volunteering. It was refreshing and stimulating for us. Tell us about the reactions of other creative professionals who’ve participated in creative rallies. Who has been a part of the rallies and organization?

EH: We’ve had great response from so many involved people, and some of their quotes are here at the EPIC site. Volunteers have come from Thirst, VSA Partners, Grip Design, Threadless, a5 Inc., Simple Truth, gravitytank and many, many others.

TL: It seems like this generation of designers has a hunger to be involved outside of the typical design workday. Besides taking part in EPIC rallies, what is your advice to designers who want to make a difference with their talents?

EH: Be brave enough to tackle a problem before it’s identified as a problem by someone else.

TL: How can people get involved with EPIC?

EH: Creative pros can apply on our site and NPOs can do so as well. They can also join us next Thursday for our end-of-the-year fundraising party on Thursday, November 12, at the Chicago Architecture Foundation. We will have a silent auction with amazing art and prizes, an exhibition of the year’s work, a People’s Choice Award voting, and great food and cocktails. Tickets are available and are discounted in advance. We’d love to see many of you there!