"Pantone books worth current market rate of gold"

Graphic designer Ben Fletcher, 36, has confirmed his Pantone Formula Guide is now the single most valuable asset in his small studio, narrowly overtaking his MacBook after factoring in the cost of replacing it every year.

The Perth-based designer made the discovery while pricing a new edition of the colour reference books, describing the total as "roughly equivalent to a small family holiday or a year’s worth of Creative Cloud."

"I genuinely considered putting them in the safe, because they may as well be worth the current price of gold!” Fletcher joked. "If someone broke into the studio, I'd probably hand them the laptop and ask them to leave the Pantones."

Industry pundits say designers continue to debate whether replacing the books every twelve months is genuinely necessary or simply Pantone's greatest piece of marketing. Especially when these books end up being kept like Ming dynasty china or the special sitting room your grandparents wouldn’t let you go into as a kid.

Others claim the books spend so little time outside their cardboard sleeve that the only noticeable colour shift over the past decade has been the designer's hair.

The situation is even more frustrating for designers and print houses alike, since Pantone colours disappeared from Adobe Illustrator, forcing designers to purchase an additional subscription for the privilege of selecting colours that have existed since the 1960s let alone access colours they already paid access for in a swatch book.

At the time of publication, Fletcher had decided to postpone purchasing the latest Formula Guide for another year after concluding his existing set from 2018 was "still pretty accurate," despite having refused to let them see daylight since the the pandemic.

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