Print Customers are Intrigued with Pantone’s Goe, but Have Lots of Questions

Pantone Inc.’s announcement of the new PANTONE Goe Color Specification System was for some the most exciting announcement at Graph Expo 2007. The PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM (PMS) was introduced 45 years ago. Goe is the company’s first new color specification system since, and is expected to eventually be as ubiquitous. At its Graph Expo press conference, Pantone stressed that the Goe system is not intended to replace PMS, but rather is a complementary system that accommodates today’s printing equipment, processes and workflows. It was inspired to create Goe from designers’ requests for more color choices that would enable them to differentiate their work from the competition. Goe delivers 2,058 new solid Pantone colors, as compared to the 1,114 PMS colors.

In a recent Print Buyers Online.com quick poll, 81 print buyers and 29 print suppliers responded the question: “How interested are you in the new Pantone Goe color specification system?” Print buyers are intrigued by the idea of a new system, with 23% saying they are “very interested” and 41% saying they are “somewhat interested.” The response from print suppliers was cooler, with 17% saying they are “very interested” and 21% claiming “somewhat interested.”

That’s not a surprise, nor should be discouraging, as print solution suppliers are often more cautious, not wanting to adopt what their customers aren’t buying. Mike David, president of Theo Davis Printing, summed it up by saying, “I am sure most printers will adopt a wait and see attitude. Designers will determine the acceptance and success of this product.”

The system hasn’t been released yet, so there are a lot of people who have yet to learn about it. In fact, 22% of print buyers and 17% of print suppliers claimed not to know about the Goe system, according to the Print Buyers Online.com polls. And even for those that are trying to get up to speed, there are questions.