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Why do the RGB and Hex values differ in physical Pantone Color Bridge guides and Color Bridge libraries found in Pantone Connect?
Why do the RGB and Hex values differ in physical Pantone Color Bridge guides and Color Bridge libraries found in Pantone Connect?
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Written by Lucas Hedgecock
Updated over a year ago

We publish the RGB/Hex values for the Pantone colors in Pantone Connect as well as in our physical Pantone Color Bridge guides. The values published on Pantone Connect are based on M2 measurement conditions where the values in the physical guide are M1. These measurement conditions (M0, M1, M2 and M3) are standards and guidelines for how values are calculated based on optical brightening agents (OBAs) found in substrates due to how UV light affects these OBAs in measurement.

In terms of simple explanation:

M1: Standardizes the UV light during measurement to control effect of OBAs in paper.

M2: Filters out (or cuts) the effect of OBAs.

The two different standards are used in different use cases. We publish the M1 values in the physical Color Bridge guides as this is our printed guide and the values that printers would be using as it is industry standard.

Design programs such as Adobe, use M2 which removes the effects of OBAs from measurement. This is used in these design programs as typically a designer would not be aware of what type of paper or material is being printed on and whether this is affected by OBAs hence the values are based on removing or cutting the effects of OBAs.

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