Pantone’s New Mobile App Makes Creating Color Palettes Easier Than Ever

updated Jun 30, 2020
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While you’re spending more time at home, you might be rethinking the color of your kitchen walls or contemplating a palette based on a new statement piece. Whatever the case may be, Pantone just launched a new mobile app that lets you play with all their colors for free—and it could help you make better design decisions from the comfort of home. 

Available for iOS and Android, the Pantone Connect mobile app grants users access to browse all their colors organized by systems and palettes. In addition to their color collection, the app also comes with tools to assist with creating personalized color palettes based on current inspiration.

“It’s for people who use Pantone, so that can be any creative or anyone trying to figure out really what Pantone color combinations they might be working with,” Nick Bazarian, Product Manager at Pantone, told Apartment Therapy. “The key with it is you can get to a level of color accuracy using a simple toolset much more easily and much more quickly than having to buy a Pantone guide and figure out which colors you’re looking at.” 

Credit: Nicoletta Richardson

Once you download the app, the first thing that will pop up is Pantone’s digital book where you can look through color systems. By clicking the drop-down arrow, you can scroll through the Pantone Matching System (PMS), Fashion, Home + Interior (FHI) System, and other Pantone systems for inspiration. You can pull any colors into a new palette workspace to start building your desired palette, too.

There’s also a “Trending Palette” tab that will give you a library of trending color palettes from Pantone. “Creatives of any type—whether you’re just trying to figure out which colors you want in your house—could use this as a solution,” Bazarian explained “It’s meant to be something that really enhance the ability to pick a color and then create with it at some point.”

Credit: Nicoletta Richardson

If you have a statement piece that you want to base the color palette around, you can use the Extract tool by taking a photo of the item and uploading a photo of it. Then, the tool pulls the image’s colors as Pantone swatches, and from there you can build the palette. Additionally, Pantone just released the Pantone Color Match Card that calibrates a mobile device’s camera for enhanced color accuracy.

The app is free to download and comes with the features mentioned above, but there is a premium option available for purchase that grants access to additional tools, too. However, anyone who downloads the app can try all the features (premium included) for free until July 8, 2020.