Pantone has released a new 'private colour studio' app that allows users to match any colours captured on an iPhone camera with corresponding Pantone swatches.
The Pantone Studio iOS app for iPhone is "a comprehensive, connected digital workspace for designers to experience Pantone’s entire product and service offering," says Pantone GM Ron Potesky.
“Fifty-three years ago, Pantone was introduced as a standardised language to communicate specific colours in the print market. Recognising the needs and opportunities for designers today, we created Pantone Studio to provide them their own private colour studio – a place where they can explore, capture, create and share colour inspiration with friends and colleagues.”
Pantone Studio members will have access to a library of more than 10,000 standardised hues across all Pantone libraries and disciplines, from fashion to graphic colours.
To translate the familiar process of searching through colours in a physical Pantone fan deck into an instinctive digital user experience, each Pantone Guide is visually laid out in a chromatically organised grid that allows members to continuously scroll over colour families to find the perfect hue.
Users can build colour palettes consisting of up to five colours, by selecting from colour guides, extracting colours from photos and images, searching by colour number, and by interacting with the custom palettes delivered in Pantone Color Institute content. Additionally, designers can name palettes and add geotag locations; add tags that make palettes searchable; add inspirational images to use palettes as a personal mood board; store and manage an unlimited collection of palettes; and send palettes direct to Adobe Creative Cloud from within the app.
Users can experiment with colour palette combinations in the Studio by applying colours against different template designs including graphics, interiors, and typography.
Designers can create Pantone palettes sourced from social media accounts and phone images. Creating a palette at the point of inspiration is also simplified by the app’s camera and adjustable colour picker, which allows a specific set of Pantone Colors to be pinpointed from any image uploaded into the app.
A basic version of Pantone Studio is available on the app store as a free download; in-app purchases include an $8 per month or $60 per year subscription to the color guide. Pantone will introduce an enhanced iOS version for iPad, as well as Android, Windows and MAC OS Desktop versions.
You can subscribe to start a 7-day free trial here.