The Pantone Plus Series features the same 14 base inks and reference numbers as its predecessor, although it adds 224 new solid colours, giving 1,341 in total, as well as 300 Premium Metallics, 42 neons and 2,868 process colours.
The Plus Series also brings a return to a chromatic arrangement that was lost in the original Matching System as new colours were added.
As with Pantone Goe, which was launched three years ago, the new solids are printed with uniform ink film thicknesses to allow easy matching on press, with the new colour numbers beginning at 7,548.
Pantone said that Goe was an ideal companion for the new Plus Series, as it was better suited to aqueous and UV coatings, and favoured by packaging designers and printers.
Ron Potesky, senior vice president and general manager of Pantone, said: "Pantone Plus takes what designers and printers know and love about the Pantone Matching System and supercharges it with a host of new features, colours and tools.
"The Plus Series provides designers with greater freedom for selecting, specifying and matching colour and, since the Pantone Plus Series is based on the widely used Pantone Matching System, there's no training or new equipment required."
Pantone has also launched an iPhone app, called myPantone Plus, that will allow designers and printers to access the entire Plus Series.
The app uses the iPhone's inbuilt camera to capture images, which can then be matched to a colour palette and shared with contacts.
The Plus Series is printed on FSC-accredited, text-weight paper, while all guides include a colour checker lighting indicator to instantly show whether current lighting conditions are suitable.
