Toni Dimaano Tech 11.04.2022 02:Nov AM EDT

Pantone Asks Photoshop Users to Pay $15 Monthly

Designers express frustration about the news that Pantone Connect plugin is now requiring users to buy their colors in Adobe Photoshop.

Pantone wants designers to get a $15 monthly subscription to use their colors in Adobe apps, or the colors in PSD files turn black, The Verge writes.

Creatives Who Use Adobe's Creative Suite Tools Are Furious

Designers are not happy that Pantone is holding 15,000 colors hostage with a paywall on Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign.

This licensing change will force users to now pay $15 a month or $90 annually to work with the colors they want and need for their designs in Adobe.

In a tweet, designer Iain Anderson says that he received a notification that reveals that Pantone is pulling out thousands of colors from Adobe apps after November.

According to Anderson, the email also explains that the Pantone color books expired in August because of licensing issues between Pantone and Adobe.

Gizmodo reports that while it was Adobe who stopped its support for Pantone, it was the latter who required the removal of the colors since they want to charge consumers directly.

Adobe's SVP of digital media marketing, strategy, and global partnerships Ashley Sill claims that this move follows Pantone's decision to change its business model.

Users of Adobe took out their frustration about the matter on the plugin's page, where many pointed out that it squeezes extra fees from those who have already paid for the apps.

Creative Suite users also flooded the page with one-star reviews, stating their disappointment that they now have to pay for something they can use for free before.

According to Gizmodo, this reaction from designers might have been avoided if the two companies only communicated the changes better.

Despite this, Sill assures their customers that Adobe is looking for ways to lessen the impact of the paywall on creatives.

Pantone Puts The Blame On Adobe

As Pantone is getting the heat, the company released an email statement reiterating that it was agreed upon that they only include a curated set of Pantone color libraries in Adobe Creative Cloud.

"While we do not determine the pricing, features, or user experience of our partners' solutions, we do collaborate closely with our partners to create the best possible customer experience," Pantone says.

With this, they also claim that this move can leverage Adobe Creative Cloud users as they continue to work with Adobe to improve the add-in extension.

Pantone is a company that influences the color trends in the world as they decide the color of the year annually, dictating fashion and design for the months following the New Year.

According to Vice, Pantone Connect is listed at a price of $7.99 a month or as much as $59.99 per year, but with the cost of licensing falling on developers, it will now have to be passed to users.

The Verge writes that at the moment, there are several ways users can restore the lost Pantone color swatches like disabling Adobe updates, or by copying the Pantone range's metadata values.