What makes up a PMS color?
How do PMS colors appear on different papers?
Can we match a PMS color with CMYK?
What Makes a PMS?
PMS inks are not made from solely mixing CMYK. Some PMS colors are made from Pantone Green, Ruby, Red, Bright Red, Trans White, Yellow 012, Orange 021 and any number of other Pantone colors. These are not standard CMYK process colors. Process colors are sometimes used in conjunction with other Pantone inks to create a specific PMS color.
How do different PMS colors appear on different papers?
It can be a hit or miss proposition when attempting to match a specific color depending on the paper. Different papers absorb ink differently. Most inks have some amount of ‘translucent’ quality letting the paper show through and different papers can have different properties. All of these factors do make it a bit of a moving target to hit a precise PMS color in the swatch book when you are not using the specific stock used to make the swatch book.
Can we match a PMS with CMYK ?
It is possible with CMYK, but it is a difficult proposition. When attempting to create a specific color, any slight difference in any of the 4 process colors (CMYK) can cause a shade of hue variation, even if all the inks used are within standard density variations. This slight variation can cause a visually noticeable difference in the printing of repeating images such as page headers. Lighter colors tend to show more variation, but all PMS color matches with CMYK are susceptible.