Quark links arms with Pantone to boost colour capabilities

29 June 2006

Quark and Pantone claim they have worked together extensively to provide designers and printers with the most up-to-date tools in QuarkXPress, with the latest version including a number of important enhancements.

QuarkXPress 7 includes the Pantone colour bridge of coated libraries for both North American and European standards, providing the closest CMYK simulations for solid Pantone colours when printed on coated paper.

The new version of QuarkXPress also contains a comprehensive library of Pantone Colour System. These include Pantone Matching System Colours for printing on coated, uncoated and matte papers, Pantone Pastels and Metallics, Pantone four-colour process coated and uncoated and support for Hexachrome colour separations and a special set of solid Pantone Colours represented in Hexachrome.

Jürgen Kurz, senior vice president of desktop products at Quark, claims his company's partnership with Pantone is assisting his company in pushing forward graphic design and desktop publishing.

“The inclusion of Pantone Colour Libraries, and most important, the new Pantone colour bridge library, lets designers confidently specify colours and trust that their colour choices will reproduce as expected,” says Kurz.

Andy Hatkoff, vice president of colour systems at Pantone, claims the new features in QuarkXPress 7 will help designers avoid the costly mistakes associated with colour management.

“QuarkXPress 7 provides colour management with Pantone Colour support to ensure accurate colour reproduction from design to print,” says Hatkoff.

“The addition of the PANTONE colour bridge library provides designers with the formulas for the best possible reproduction of solid Pantone Colours in CMYK,” he says.

“The Pantone colour bridge guide is one of the most valuable tools a designer can have when selecting and matching colours in QuarkXPress 7. It takes the surprise out of printing by providing a side-by-side view of PANTONE Colours next to their four-colour process representations.”