Default Illustrator Swatches Coated & Uncoated CMYK Process System Guide

Im a graphic designer for festivals, but I decided to purchase this set to help me with redecorating and repainting my home!They’ve worked great! I knew I wanted to do some sponging on my walls in my office and I’d be toying with a whole bunch of colors, so instead of going to the hardware store and getting one of each of the paint chips, I was able to use these cards to go back and forth and back and forth. And then I took my card to the paint section of the store and they made my paint to match! And on top of that — I also know the CMYK value of the paint on my walls!Any and every designer should have a pack of these— they’re great!

The only reason that this product has received critical reviews, is because the buyer didn't fully understand what they were getting. This product is not a replacement for the proprietary Pantone Swatches. This product contains the default color swatches in Illustrator and Photoshop with 11 tint variations of that color swatch (100, 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 5).With this product you will see 54 colors, with 11 tints/shades. What I really like is you can see it on glossy (UV coated) or on matte. It is excellent for quickly seeing how these color will print.

Agree with the other negative reviews, once I have it in my hand trying to use it for what I really needed.There are only 110 hues (real CMYK combinations) :( That's surprisingly few if you consider the whole spectrum, and the number of grays and beiges included. For example, there are approximately 8 cards you might classify as "red," so if you're trying to match a red hue that doesn't fit one of those 8 reds, you're out of luck. And that's being generous on the color range; some of those are more pink or orange, so there are really like 3 true variations on red.On top of that, the "1210 shades" really are just shades: they're a halftone tint that doesn't really give you any new color information regarding the print look itself, it just shows you what less of that color will look like on the page. In contrast, the Pantone CMYK or Bridge books give you thousands of distinct ink mixes with different CMYK values, which is an entirely different world if you want to try to match something and understand the result of a little more black, or a little less yellow.It's definitely a great value, and that's why I'm choosing 2 instead of 1 stars: you can get a good idea of what various basic colors will look like printed, and maybe you can fudge and average between two close colors to get something in the middle. For my needs however, it looks like I'll have to invest in the Pantone bridge book, with thousands of real hue and color mix variations.Since there are few 1- or 2- star reviews on this, I brought it down a bit to highlight these discrepancies—but if what you want is to have a variety of hues and start to build your instincts for how CMYK will vary from screen to print, this is a good basic start, and you certainly shouldn't spend more if you don't need it. However, if you're doing real print work often, the Pantone guides are the standard for a reason. I just wish I could borrow them from the library for the 1 or 2 times per year I really need them...

It’s small, but it was a gift for someone. They were happy

Great product for those who can't afford the more expensive Pantone color pallets, but I do wish that it had more color. It would be great if they had an alternate version that had the different tints and tones of the colors instead of just opacity levels but it is a great concept and for your basic color pallet this is a great starting point to ensure that the color you want is the color you get. I also like how compact it is. I like that I can toss it in my laptop bag to take with me on appointments or working out of the office and still have the reference guide at my side.

I read the reviews on this and just thought people were asking for too much for the price. Now that I have the product, I apologize to aforementioned people.It's not a bad product, it's just not very useful. It has the very, VERY basic colors, and I love seeing the difference between the gloss and matte finishes, but I do wish I would have saved my money and just put it toward the official (& very expensive) Pantone color books. That's my suggestion if you're on the fence!

As a freelance graphic designer I don't have an employer to provide the expensive Pantone color books, so I tried this out and am so thrilled! It is great to have both coated & uncoated samples of printed CMYK shades at such an affordable price! Love it!

No instructions on how to use. For e.g. what codes values do you input to achieve the lighter tones of the main CMYK color? This product is useless for what I needed it for and very limited on the color variations. I'm seriously considering returning it.