Submitted by ExternalUserError t3_zwm0hr in explainlikeimfive
someone76543 t1_j1xdzoh wrote
Reply to comment by RandomNumsandLetters in ELI5: How is that Pantone colors don't have direct RGB counterparts? by ExternalUserError
Pantone is used for communication between different people. If you're not communicating with someone else, then you do you and use whatever colours you like.
Usually it is for communication between a designer and a manufacturer. The designer chooses a Pantone colour, and the manufacturer makes the thing be exactly that Pantone colour.
The designer and manufacturer are usually different companies, often in different countries.
So if you are a manufacturer, you DO have to keep paying for Pantone because that is what most of your customers will be using. And if you stop accepting designs that use Pantone colours, or if you just get the Pantone colours wrong, then the customers will go to a different manufacturer.
If you are a designer, you DO have to keep paying for Pantone because that is what most of your manufacturers will be using. Unless you have the luxury of only selecting manufacturers that support <alternate colour system>, but in that case either:
- you're a huge company, that can dictate standards to their supplier. Huge companies will have a huge existing library of designs, and the cost of switching will likely dwarf the cost of Pantone. OR
- you're a tiny hobbyist or small business. Hobbyists & small businesses who care enough to use ANY colour system are a niche market. So most manufacturers aren't going to implement a whole separate colour system just for "hobbyists & small businesses who care about exact colours but can't or won't pay for Pantone". Those people don't have much money to spend getting things manufactured - if they had lots of money they could buy Pantone.
The only way you can stop paying for Pantone is AFTER the whole industry starts supporting the new colour system. And for the reasons listed above, that is unlikely to happen.
So any competing colour system is doomed.
It's a classic chicken/egg problem.
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