110 Shades of Nude: Pantone Unveils SkinTone Guide

Global color authority sets the standard for matching skin color with its first SkinTone Guide

CARLSTADT, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pantone LLC, an X-Rite company and the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the design industries, today announced the PANTONE^® SkinTone™ Guide, the first scientifically based guide for matching and reproducing lifelike skin tones in a variety of industries.

“By starting with actual skin tones and working back to define a SkinTone color space, we were able to catalog the most realistic and reproducible skin tones.”

“The new SkinTone Guide and COLOR MANAGER Software are vital tools for accurately communicating the color of a model’s skin as it appears when photographed to final color-correct proofs,” said Victor Basile, senior vice president, director of print graphic services at Publicis Groupe, one of the largest, multinational communications groups in the world. “The guide will help take some of the guesswork out of the color correction process by providing our experts with a defined system for reaching skin tone color targets, saving us time and eliminating costly mistakes.”

More than 1,000 human skin measurements were collected from participants across a diverse range of ethnicities and age groups. To ensure a universally precise sample, several high-end X-Rite spectrophotometers and PANTONE CAPSURE™, a compact, handheld spectro-colorimeter, were used to measure skin samples. Based on these measurements, Pantone established an accurate skin color space and created the PANTONE SkinTone Library, which defines the 110 most reproducible colors.

“The semi-translucent nature of skin makes measuring and reproducing skin tones in print and manufacturing an extremely challenging process,” explained Giovanni Marra, director of corporate marketing at Pantone. “By starting with actual skin tones and working back to define a SkinTone color space, we were able to catalog the most realistic and reproducible skin tones.”

Marra continued, “In most other color palettes, the color ‘nude’ is unfortunately relegated to a few skin colors, but in reality, nature has given us a multitude of beautiful shades of skin. From print, packaging and healthcare to fashion, cosmetics and toy production, the new SkinTone Guide will help companies produce more authentic products in a broader skin tone range.”

The SkinTone Guide features 110, 1.75” x 7” pages, each dedicated to its own SkinTone shade for more accurate visualization. All pages include a small circular cutout so users can hold the guide over the particular skin sample being matched, easing evaluation and improving accuracy.

The SkinTone Guide is arranged from light to dark and utilizes an alpha-numeric numbering system that represents both the tone and undertone of each color – from 1Y01 SP (the lightest yellow tone) to 4R15 SP (the reddest tone).

COLOR MANAGER Software, free-of-charge with each SkinTone Guide purchase, provides sRGB and CMYK color values to aid in reproducing accurate SkinTones in variety of media, including web, video, animation, print and packaging.

Pricing and Availability

The PANTONE SkinTone Guide is available immediately for U.S. $89. All SkinTone Guide purchases include complimentary access to PANTONE COLOR MANAGER Software upon registration. Colors featured in the SkinTone Guide are also available as PANTONE PLASTIC STANDARD Chips, which are sold individually for U.S. $16. The SkinTone Guide and PLASTIC STANDARD Chips are available immediately online at www.pantone.com and through PANTONE resellers worldwide.

COLOR MANAGER is a versatile application that provides CMYK and sRGB data for PANTONE Colors, and lets users update popular design applications including Adobe^® Creative Suite^®, QuarkXPress^®, Corel^® Painter™, X-Rite i1 Profiler, the Mac OS Color Picker and myPantone.com with the latest PANTONE Color Libraries. COLOR MANAGER is compatible with MacOS X 10.5 or higher and Microsoft^® Windows^® XP, Vista and Windows 7.

The SkinTone Guide Library will be added to the myPantone for iPhone™ and Android™ apps later this year.

About Pantone

Pantone LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of X-Rite, Incorporated, has been the world’s color authority for nearly 50 years, providing design professionals with products and services for the colorful exploration and expression of creativity. Always a source for color inspiration, Pantone also offers paint and designer-inspired products and services for consumers. More information is available at www.pantone.com. For the latest news, trends, information and conversations, connect with Pantone on Twitter and Facebook.

About X-Rite

X-Rite, Incorporated, is the global leader in color science and technology. The company, which now includes color industry leader Pantone, develops, manufactures, markets and supports innovative color solutions through measurement systems, software, color standards and services. X-Rite’s expertise in inspiring, selecting, measuring, formulating, communicating and matching color helps users get color right the first time and every time, which translates to better quality and reduced costs. X-Rite serves a range of industries, including printing, packaging, photography, graphic design, video, automotive, paints, plastics, textiles, dental and medical. For further information, please visit www.xrite.com.

PANTONE^®…The color of ideas^SM.

PANTONE® and other Pantone trademarks are the property of Pantone LLC. © 2012. Adobe and Creative Suite are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. QuarkXPress is a registered trademark of Quark Software Inc. and its affiliates in the U.S. and/or other countries. Corel Painter is a trademark of Corel Corporation. iPhone is a trademark of Apple. All rights reserved.