How to find a Pantone colour from an image or a logo

One blue on the website, a purplish one on business cards, a third on the sign. Why that happens, what Pantone solves and how to find the nearest number for your colour.

The brand blue is one shade on the website, slightly purple on business cards, lighter on the sign and different again on T-shirts. That is not carelessness on the part of contractors: every device and every material reproduces colour in its own way. Pantone was invented precisely so that everyone talks about the same colour.

Pantone is a catalogue of ready-mixed inks with numbers. A print shop does not mix the colour from four base inks; it takes a specific ink by its number. That is why Pantone 286 C looks the same in Kyiv, Warsaw and Berlin.

BasicsHEX, RGB, CMYK and Pantone: the difference

One brand colour has a notation in each system. That list is exactly what makes up the “Colours” page of a brand book.

How-toHow to match Pantone from an image: 3 steps

1. Upload a logo or a pictureOpen Pantone from image. Any image will do: a logo, a photo, a screenshot.
2. Choose the colourThe tool shows the main colours, or click the exact spot you need.
3. Copy the numbersThe list of Pantone numbers with HEX codes can be sent to the print shop.

PracticeWhen Pantone is really needed

1. Packaging and labelsThe colour must match from run to run, otherwise the product on the shelf looks like two different brands.
2. Signs and vinylCutting vinyl is chosen from the manufacturer’s catalogue; a Pantone number helps to find the nearest one.
3. Clothing and merchandiseScreen printing and pad printing work with ready-mixed inks, not a CMYK mix.
4. Bright coloursCMYK reproduces rich orange, neons and metallics dully. Pantone reproduces them exactly.
5. One- or two-colour printA letterhead or a bag in one brand colour is cheaper to print with a single Pantone ink.

For business cards and flyers printed digitally, Pantone is usually not needed: those presses print in CMYK, and the number serves only as a reference for setting up.

AccuracyWhy colour differs on screen and on paper

A screen glows. A monitor shows colour with light; paper shows it with light reflected from ink. A perfect match does not exist.

Every screen lies in its own way. The same HEX looks different on a phone and on an office monitor.

Paper changes the colour. That is why Pantone has two main series: C (coated) for glossy coated paper and U (uncoated) for uncoated paper. The same number looks paler on matt paper.

Hence the order of work: find the nearest numbers from a picture → show them to the print shop → check against a paper Pantone fan deck → approve one number and write it down.

MistakesCommon mistakes with a brand colour

The colour was taken from a screenshot. JPG compression shifts the shade. Take the colour from the original logo file.

The colour is matched “by eye” every time. Each contractor picks it differently – and a year later you have five different blues.

One number for every material. The same Pantone looks slightly different on vinyl, fabric and paper. Ask for a sample.

Nothing is written down. The colours must be recorded in one document. You can put one together in a few minutes in the Mini brand book in PDF tool.

ToolWhat a Pantone fan deck is and whether to buy one

A fan deck is a catalogue of thin paper strips printed with the real inks and their numbers. It is the only way to see how a colour really looks rather than how a screen shows it.

A small business does not need to buy one: every print shop and every designer has a fan deck. It is enough to come once, choose a number from those suggested and write it down.

Fan decks fade: the ink grows paler over the years. If a print shop shows you a battered ten-year-old catalogue, the colour on it is no longer the same.

PracticeHow to talk to a print shop about colour

1. Give a number, not “blue like on the website”Pantone 286 C is unambiguous. “A rich blue” means something different to everyone.
2. Say what you are printing onCoated paper, kraft, vinyl, fabric. The series and the result depend on it.
3. Ask for a colour proofA test print before the run. For large orders this is standard practice.
4. Keep a sampleA successful run is the best reference. Show it to the print shop next time.
5. One print shop, one resultWhen you change contractor, approve the colour against the sample again.

HonestlyThe tool gives a reference. Colours for print are chosen by a designer

The tool finds the nearest Pantone numbers for a colour on screen. The values are approximate and taken from open tables: it is a prompt for a conversation with the print shop, not an approved brand colour.

Choosing a palette that looks equally good on screen, paper and a sign, and recording it in every system, is part of the work on a brand identity. We do it together with the logo: logo design.

A Pantone number matched from a screen is a starting point, not the final answer. Approve a colour only against a printed sample.

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