Comments on: InDesignSecrets Podcast 045

By: Jake Tilson

Jake Tilson — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:52:45 +0000

I’ve been looking for the duotone book for years after seeing one at a printers I used to use. There are about four or five duotones made from two bright saturated colours that when combined make black! (Almost black) Is there an online resource for duotone combinations or are we all forced into the out of print book market?

By: David Blatner

David Blatner — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 22:00:30 +0000

Anne-Marie, that’s just how I felt when I got the press release. Great minds think alike, I guess.

Meanwhile, Pantone gave me contact info for the one person in the world who apparently has the exclusive rights to the Pantone Duotone Studio product. His telephone is disconnected and his two email addresses both bounce back. I guess that wasn’t the right person for Pantone to do an exclusive deal with.

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 15:32:30 +0000

Gotta tell you, David, that at first glance, seeing the word “stools” underlined and linked in your post gave me pause. Is he linking to stools? Perhaps spot-colored? Then I read the comment. Oh, those kind of stools.

By: David Blatner

David Blatner — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 15:22:22 +0000

Yes, Pantone makes the most amazing things. But the best, by far, was the press release I received a couple of years ago for their stools, which included this memorable line: “Designed and crafted by London-based design team Barber Osgerby, each stool is handmade with 10 sheets of birch plywood veneer, lacquered and laminated, then silk-screened with the individual identifying PANTONE Number.”

I thought at the time that pantone-colored stools were just going too far. But apparently, they’re quite the hit.

By: Mike Klassen

Mike Klassen — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 22:12:01 +0000

I was afraid to even look at eBay or other sources for those books. It seems the world knows when some rare books are in demand and prices rocket up appropriately.

Although after looking at the earings, it’s nice to know some things of quality are still at reasonable prices.

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:23:35 +0000

Wow, that is such a bummer! (that they’ve been discontinued.) I used to have those “spot+black” books but they were lost in one of many moves a few years back.

Because I have so much time on my hands, I just scanned through the 159 hits eBay showed me with the keyword Pantone (no luck) and the 48 hits Amazon showed me (no joy).

However, I did find a perfect pair of vintage Pantone earrings on eBay in case anyone’s looking for a birthday present for me (not until June 1, you have plenty of time).

Sorry, everyone! I’ll keep scouring the web as David’s tracking down distributors. Or maybe I’ll find one in an antique market or something.

By: David Blatner

David Blatner — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 12:59:36 +0000

On the one hand, I’m surprised that Pantone has let the duotone books go out of print. On the other hand, it’s not surprising that most of their focus has been on spot-to-process work. It does appear that as the cost of doing CMYK work has gone down, fewer people are doing 2- and 3-color jobs. I wonder if anyone has statistics on the decline…

By: Mike Klassen

Mike Klassen — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:31:00 +0000

Thanks for the update, David. I guess that’s just more money for me to put towards the upcoming CS3.

By: David Blatner

David Blatner — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 16:43:33 +0000

Mike, I just got off the phone with Pantone and they said that unfortunately the Color + Color and Color + Black books are no longer available. Drat! Pantone later sold something called the Duotone Studio (I think I wrote a review about that years ago), but it’s mighty hard to find one of those, too. I’m tracking down their sole remaining distributor and will post here if I find anything. Sorry for mentioning something that is out of print.

By: Mike Klassen

Mike Klassen — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 15:01:35 +0000

I figured I could do a google search for the Pantone Spot + Black book that was mentioned, but couldn’t find it.

Anyone have a link?