Choosing the right Pantone colour book for every print job

When you’re chasing absolute colour consistency—whether it’s the red in a logo or the soft pastel on a book jacket—Pantone’s library of printed guides is still the industry gold standard. Each book is produced under controlled press conditions, so what you see in the fan or chip is what you can achieve on press (assuming good press practice!). Below is a quick refresher on the core guides that graphic and packaging designers reach for every week.

Key Pantone guides for graphic and print

Pantone guide

What you get

Typical use-case

Formula Guide – Solid Coated & Uncoated

2,390 spot colours with ink recipes printed on gloss (C) and offset bond (U) stock.

Brand marks, stationery, packaging where a dedicated spot ink is being mixed.

Solid Chips – Coated & Uncoated

Tear-out chips of the same colours in the Formula Guide.

Press-side approvals, sharing exact references with converters.

Color Bridge Guide – Coated & Uncoated

Each spot colour shown next to its closest CMYK match, plus sRGB and HEX values.

Jobs that start as spot but will also run 4-colour (e.g. reports, brochures, digital ads).

CMYK Guide – Coated & Uncoated

2,868 CMYK builds arranged chromatically (no spot inks).

Large-volume CMYK printing when brand spot colours aren’t critical (catalogues, newspapers).

Metallics Guide

655 metallic inks on coated stock, plus clear-varnish recommendations.

Premium packaging, covers, stationery with metallic accents.

Pastels & Neons Guide

154 pastels and 56 day-glo neons on coated & uncoated.

Attention-grabbing promotions, fashion look-books, festival posters.

Plastic Chips / Tints Selector

Injection-moulded ABS chips matched to PMS spots.

Blow-moulded bottles, lids, toys—any hard plastic where the material itself is coloured.

Fashion, Home + Interiors (FHI) Paper & Cotton

2,625 colours for textiles and soft furnishings (paper TPG and cotton TCX formats).

Apparel, interior surfaces, textile trim where fibre dyeing—not ink—is required.

Matching books to real world jobs

The Pantone reference books that I use most are the Formular Guide – solid coated and uncoated, for spot (premixed) colours, and the Color Bridge Guide – coated and uncoated, for clients that require design across many mediums.

I often reference Pastels and Neons for modern design and Metalics for extra bling!

Here is a quick overview of which Pantone guide I’ll use for specific design work.

Logo design & brand guidelines

Start with the Formula Guide to lock in spot colours. If your client will sometimes run CMYK only (e.g. small digital runs), reference Color Bridge to show the closest four-colour result

Corporate reports, brochures & pitch decks

These are almost always CMYK. Work directly from the Color Bridge or CMYK Guide so everyone—designers, printers, and the client’s in-house desktop printer—sees the same build

Magazine, paperback & hard-cover book jackets

Use Formula Guide for any hero spot colour you want punched-out, plus Metallics if you’re adding foil-like inks. Keep Color Bridge handy for CMYK conversions if the publisher opts for four-colour only.

Brand and retail packaging

Spot colours from the Formula Guide give you the cleanest hits on coated carton. If the pack carries QR codes or variable data, check the CMYK alternative in Color Bridge. For a luxury touch, sprinkle in Metallics.

Packaging on brown or coloured cardboard

Colours shift on tinted stock—trial pull chips from Solid Chips Uncoated and adjust density on press. Pastels often disappear, so lean on strong mid-tones or metallics for cut-through.

Large-format outdoor advertising & POS displays

These are nearly always CMYK or extended-gamut digital. Reference Color Bridge (for PMS conversion) or the CMYK Guide outright. Neons from Pastels & Neons are ideal for eye-popping transit ads

Websites, apps & social media

Use the sRGB and HEX values printed in Color Bridge to align screen mock-ups with your print palette.

Interior finishes & soft furnishings

Jump systems: pick from FHI Paper TPG if you’re handing specs to a painter or FHI Cotton for dyed fabric. Share back-references to PMS if any printed collateral must align.

Injection- or moulded plastic

Paper guides won’t cut it; spec the shade with Pantone Plastic Chips so the master-batch supplier can match the resin.

Here is a matrix indicating which book you might consider for various printing / design scenarios.

Get it touch if you want to discuss any of these design options for your business.

Printing / design scenario	Formula Guide	Color Bridge	CMYK Guide	Solid Chips	Metallics	Pastels + Neons	Plastic Chips	FHI Cotton	FHI Paper TPG
Logo & primary brand marks	✓	✓
Business cards & stationery	✓			✓
Annual reports & investor decks		✓	✓
Magazine & newspaper ads		✓	✓
Book covers (spot + CMYK)	✓	✓			✓
Retail packaging – white board	✓				✓	✓
Retail packaging – kraft/coloured board				✓	✓
Luxury cartons with foil-like ink					✓
Plastic bottles, closures, toys							✓
Flexible plastic pouches		✓					✓
POP / POS displays		✓	✓			✓
Outdoor billboards			✓			✓
Vehicle wraps & fleet graphics		✓	✓
Large-run catalogues			✓
One-off digital posters		✓
Exhibition signage (fabric)		✓						✓
T-shirt screen printing	✓					✓
Fashion textiles								✓
Interior paint & soft furnishings								✓	✓
UI/UX, websites, social posts		✓

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