Printing & Finishes · Quick guide
CMYK vs Pantone (PMS) for packaging: which should you use?
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Use CMYK when your artwork has photographs, gradients or lots of colours, because it builds every colour from four process inks. Use Pantone (PMS) when a flat brand colour must match a reference exactly and stay the same across products and reprints, because each Pantone is a single pre-mixed ink. Many packaging designs use both: CMYK for imagery, with one or two Pantone colours reserved for the logo or brand panels.
This article explains how each system works, how the board and finish change the result, and how to set up your artwork so the colour comes out as intended.
How CMYK works
CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black), the four process inks. The press lays them down as patterns of tiny dots, called halftones, in different sizes. From normal viewing distance the eye blends the dots into a single colour, so four inks can reproduce photographs, skin tones, gradients and thousands of colours in one pass.
The trade-off is precision. A CMYK colour is a mix, so small shifts in ink, board or press conditions shift the result, and a flat brand colour built from four inks can vary slightly across a run or between reprints. CMYK also cannot reach every colour: very bright oranges, greens, blues and purples sit outside its range, called its gamut.
How Pantone works
The Pantone Matching System is a library of numbered colours, each with a published ink recipe. For a Pantone colour, the ink is mixed to that recipe before printing and laid down as a solid, so the colour does not depend on mixing dots on the board. It gives flat, clean areas of colour that are consistent from box to box and order to order.
Pantone also reaches colours CMYK cannot, including fluorescents and metallic inks. Each Pantone is a separate ink, though, so every additional one adds set-up. Pantone is ideal for one-, two- or three-colour designs, and for protecting a key brand colour inside a CMYK design.
CMYK vs Pantone compared
| CMYK (process) | Pantone (spot) | |
|---|---|---|
| How colour is made | Four inks mixed optically as dots | One pre-mixed ink per colour |
| Best for | Photographs, gradients, multi-colour artwork | Flat brand colours, logos, simple designs |
| Colour range | Wide, but misses many bright and special colours | Very wide, including fluorescent and metallic inks |
| Consistency across reprints | Good, with some variation on flat colours | Very consistent |
| Fine text in colour | Can show slight misregistration between inks | Crisp, as it is one ink |
| Set-up | Four inks, whatever the design | One extra ink per Pantone |
| On digital presses | Native | Usually simulated with process or extended inks |
When to use CMYK, Pantone or both
| Design | Recommended approach | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Product photography or illustrations | CMYK | Only process colour reproduces continuous tone |
| A logo and text in one or two brand colours | Pantone | Flat, exact and often economical |
| Photography plus a strict brand colour | CMYK plus one or two Pantones | Imagery in CMYK, brand colour protected as a spot |
| A range of cartons that must match on the shelf | Pantone for the shared colours | Consistency across products and reprints |
| One or two colours on kraft | Dark Pantone colours | Solid inks hold up better on a brown base |
| Short runs or many versions printed digitally | CMYK or extended gamut | Digital presses print process colour natively |
Board, finish and process all change the colour
The same ink looks different on different surfaces, so choose your colours for the board you are printing on.
- Coated or uncoated. Coated board keeps ink on the surface, giving vivid colour; uncoated board absorbs ink, giving softer colour. Choose Pantones from the coated (C) or uncoated (U) guide to match. See coated vs uncoated board.
- Kraft. Inks are translucent, so brown board darkens every colour and there is no white in CMYK. Bold, dark colours work best; see kraft board for white underlays and white-top kraft.
- Lamination. Matt and soft-touch lamination soften colours slightly; gloss makes them brighter. Judge proofs with the finish in mind; see lamination.
- Print process. Litho prints true Pantone inks; most digital presses simulate them. See litho vs digital printing.
Colour is checked against a physical reference under standard viewing light, not against a screen. Our guide to Pantone colour matching explains how matches are judged, and why screen colours differ from printed colours covers the RGB-to-print gap.
Setting up artwork correctly
Most colour surprises start in the artwork file. Before you send artwork:
- Convert RGB to CMYK. Images and colours from screen design tools are RGB; convert them using the colour profile your printer specifies, and check the result.
- Name spot colours properly. Pantone colours should be spot swatches with their exact names, not converted to CMYK by accident, and not duplicated under slightly different names.
- Keep small text in one ink. Fine type built from four colours can look blurred if the inks register slightly apart; use black only or a single Pantone.
- Build rich black only for large areas. A large black area printed with a little of the other inks looks deeper; small text should stay 100% black.
- Mark white ink and finishes as separate layers. White underlays, foil and spot UV are set up as their own named layers, not as colours in the artwork.
Our print-ready artwork checklist covers file set-up in full.
Common mistakes
- Choosing a brand colour from a screen. Screens show RGB light; pick Pantone colours from a printed guide.
- Using the coated Pantone reference for uncoated board. The colour will look duller and darker than expected.
- Asking CMYK to match a bright orange or green exactly. Check the CMYK bridge version first, or use the Pantone.
- Leaving Pantone swatches in a design meant to print in CMYK. Unused or duplicate spot colours cause confusion at proof stage.
- Specifying pale colours on kraft. They fade into the brown; use darker colours or a white underlay.
- Judging colour on a PDF proof. A PDF shows layout and content; colour is judged on printed material under proper light.