Most labels are printed using 1, 2, or 3 Pantone® PMS colors. Pantone is a company that specializes in color communication. They publish color swatch books every year that designers, printers, and film service bureaus use to specify colors. These books are needed because we can't trust what is displayed on a computer screen. Just think about it - monitors have brightness and contrast controls, so how do you know what the color is supposed to be?

Pantone has many different guides - we need one specifying the regular PMS spot colors. We find the Solid to Process Guide the most useful for daily use. By specifying the PMS number, we are sure to have a very close color match - not perfect, but close (there are so many variables in printing that a perfect color match is impossible). The Solid to Process Guide also shows you how the spot color will look when it is converted to 4-color process printing.