Pantone's new Color Match Card is a total game-changer

Pantone, everyone's favourite colour expert, has launched a brand new digital platform as well as a "revolutionary" Color Match Card, which can identify and match colours in real life.  

Like some sort of Shazam for colours, or even a real-life eyedropper tool (other Photoshop actions are available), the credit card-sized Pantone Color Match Card can match colours to those in Pantone's huge colour library, and save them to the Pantone Connect app. 

All you have to do is place the card (which contains a hole) over the desired colour, and take a photo of it using the app. Pantone Connect will then identify the colour – so you can finally leave those hefty Pantone swatches at home.

According to a press release from Pantone, the company devised the system to close the gap between the physical and digital for designers, and to help them adapt to "what a changed workflow looks like post-COVID". Indeed, in a new normal of remote working and virtual meetings, if Pantone's Color Match Card is accurate, it could be a godsend for digital artists when it comes to colour communication from afar. The card is available now for $14.99. 

Accompanying the new card is Pantone Connect, which the company calls "a designer’s platform of Pantone Colour Libraries" and includes the Pantone Connect app as well as an Adobe Creative Cloud extension. This allows Pantone's colour libraries to be used with Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Pantone Connect Premium, which is required for the Adobe extension, is currently free to register until 8th July as part of Pantone's response to the pandemic. After that, it costs $29.99 a year.

Many have heralded the Color Match Card as a great idea on Twitter, although some have pointed out a few shortcomings, such as a lack of iPhone 11 support (Pantone promises that support for the newest iPhone is coming very soon). While it sounds like an ingenious idea, time will tell whether Pantone's new invention will become one of the most essential graphic design tools for digital artists. 

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