Pantone expands Matching System with 224 new colors

Pantone has expanded the Pantone Matching System (PMS) with 224 new colors, bringing the library to nearly 9,000 colors and providing designers, brands, printers, converters and ink manufacturers with additional options for color specification and reproduction.

The new colors span every color family and were developed by the Pantone Color Institute and Pantone’s color scientists, combining cultural and design trend forecasting with technical color science. According to Pantone, the expansion reflects a broader movement away from stark minimalism and toward more expressive, saturated and emotion-driven use of color in graphic design, packaging, fashion, interiors and products.

The colors are available on both coated and uncoated paper stocks and are designed to provide stability, consistency and reproducibility across physical and digital workflows. The additions are available in the Pantone Formula Guide, Color Bridge and Solid Chips Set, as well as digitally through Pantone Connect and the Pantone Connect Extension for Adobe Creative Cloud.

Pantone has also organized the additions into four trend-focused palettes intended to demonstrate potential combinations of the new colors. Desire for Pleasure combines pinks with aquatic blue and pistachio green; Desire for Exquisite features saturated colors inspired by flowers and ripened fruits; Oxygenating draws on amber, citrus and botanical greens; and Beyond Boundaries combines aqua, lavender, purple, lime green and beige in what Pantone describes as a retro-futuristic palette.

“Designers and brands are embracing color as a form of confidence and bold expression, focusing on the way it makes their audiences feel,” says Cindy Cooperman, general manager and vice president, Pantone. “The new colors expand the expressive range of the entire system, adding to this trend of bold feeling and excitement.”

Graphic designer Aaron Draplin of Draplin Design Co. was the first designer invited to work with the new palettes. Draplin’s portfolio includes work for brands and artists including Nike, Hot Wheels, Patagonia, Pearl Jam, Tenacious D and Chris Stapleton.

“Working with Pantone’s new colors really pushed me to flip the script and discover combinations that I just hadn’t arrived at on my own,” says Draplin.

Pantone is also offering the 224 colors for a limited time as supplements to the Formula Guide, Color Bridge and Solid Chips Pages, allowing existing users to update their current collections.