Pantone launches new eyedropper app designed by Rokkan

Los Angeles-based design agency Rokkan has collaborated with Pantone to develop a new app conceived as a tool for designers. Pantone Studio allows its users to sample colour in the real world and match it to Pantone’s library of hues. 

The app transmutes colours captured through the device’s camera into the Pantone swatch alongside RGB and Hex values, from images and out and about in the world acting as a portable eyedropper. Once selected, colours can be stored in a personal library. From here, Pantone’s algorithms offer a curation of colour harmonies, values and cross references, allowing the user to build their own visual palette of colours.

While Pantone has previously ventured into the app market including 2009’s myPantone, this new app offers a more comprehensive chromatic library, advanced algorithmic power in its curation, and the ability to visualise colours in action on various fabrics and surfaces. Pantone Studio can also export these custom palettes and banks of colour to Adobe Creative Cloud apps for integrated use across the suite, as well as email and social media.

“The app was building off of two fundamentals: inspiration and workspace,” explains John Noe, CEO of Rokkan, the agency that has overhauled the concept, housing the functionality and content in an attractively designed, vibrant interface.

Pantone senior vice president and general manager, Ron Potesky says: “Rokkan helped us create a beautiful interface and intuitive user experience that is more conducive to how designers work today.”

This new launch is part of Pantone’s efforts to reach young designers it believes are priced out of its standard colour guides, which retail up to £500. The app is free to download but is £5.99 for a monthly subscription.