The Pantone Plus Series was a naming convention used in conjunction of a re-launch of the Pantone Matching System (our graphic arts system) in 2010. This included an addition of colors to the system as well as additional tools that were made available for the Pantone colors. Many of these tools were digital as technology and the industry was beginning to go more the route of digital design. The Pantone ‘Plus Series’ was based on our creation of the Master Standard digital data of the colors which has not changed since this launch.

This data is the spectral data (color measurement data) of the colors and this is what is used in digital programs from Pantone and also what is used in our production of the physical guides and samples of the colors. In simple words, it is the ‘Color’s DNA’ and this does not change. We do not have different values between a Pantone color and a Pantone Plus Series color.

We have removed the naming convention ‘The Plus Series’ from our guides as of 2019 as it was decided it was no longer necessary and may cause confusion. The colors and their data are not changed