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Stuart Semple’s Freetone is a free Adobe palette of 1,280 Pantone-like colours. Semple made it after Adobe removed built-in Pantone support, an episode he viewed as a warning about subscription control over a shared production language. Freetone is useful for digital layouts, internal approvals and communicating an approximate numbered colour target. It is not documented as a universally equivalent set of physical Pantone inks.
Why Pantone still matters to working artists
In Jenny List’s Hackaday interview, published November 16, 2022, Semple calls Pantone “super useful” and “the go-to” colour reference. Its value is less about a particular application than about coordination: an artist, screen printer, client and supplier can discuss a numbered spot colour instead of relying on descriptions such as “a darker blue.”
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Semple gives screen prints and a Placebo record cover as examples. A number on a brief can communicate the intended result across a team, even when the people involved use different software or work at different stages of production. That common vocabulary is why Adobe’s removal of built-in Pantone support felt consequential to him.
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A free digital palette
Culture Hustle, Semple’s company, describes Freetone as “1280 liberated colours” for Adobe products. It is distributed as a free palette/plugin, giving users numbered swatches inside a familiar digital design workflow rather than requiring a paid Pantone subscription for basic on-screen colour selection.
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What the numbers mean
Freetone names colours to resemble Pantone’s established numbering language. In the interview, when asked about a Sempletone swatch corresponding to Pantone 648C, Semple answers: “Well, it’s exactly the same as Pantone 648C.” That is his description of the intended visual match, not an independent laboratory validation of ink, paper or substrate performance.
Is Freetone a free Pantone alternative?
For digital work, approximate communication and cost-free access, yes. For a guaranteed physical Pantone specification, no. The two systems solve overlapping but not identical problems.
| Consideration | Freetone | Pantone |
|---|---|---|
| Licensing and access | Free palette/plugin from Culture Hustle. | Commercial colour-system products and services. |
| Digital palette | 1,280 Adobe-oriented, Pantone-like colours. | Commercial digital tools, including Pantone Connect for Adobe Creative Cloud. |
| Team naming | Numbered names intended to make approximate targets easier to discuss. | Established commercial reference language used across design and production. |
| Physical swatches and ink support | No independent spectrometer dataset, standards certification or cross-substrate equivalence is established in the available interview material. | Physical and digital products are the company’s conventional reference offering. |
| Printer or client acceptance | Depends on whether the printer and client accept the palette and can translate it into their process. | More likely to be the required reference where a contract, printer or brand guide specifies Pantone. |
| Cost | Free digital access. | Paid commercial products or subscriptions may apply. |
Pantone says its colour systems are used by more than 10 million designers and producers. That is Pantone’s own figure, not an independent market estimate, but it illustrates the incumbent system’s reach. Freetone’s strongest advantage is removing a paywall from a digital, Pantone-like vocabulary; it does not automatically replace the commercial ecosystem built around Pantone books, formulas and specifications.
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Can Freetone replace Pantone in Photoshop?
It can replace the palette-access step for many Adobe users: install or load Freetone, choose one of its swatches and use that colour in a digital composition. It cannot replace every downstream requirement that may be hidden behind the phrase “use Pantone.”
Freetone is a sensible fit when
- You need a free set of numbered, Pantone-like swatches for screen-based design.
- Your team wants a common reference for internal reviews or early client conversations.
- The printer, client and brand owner have agreed that a Freetone swatch is acceptable.
- The final output is primarily digital and no contractual Pantone specification applies.
Keep Pantone or obtain the printer’s specification when
- A brand guide names a specific Pantone colour.
- A packaging, textile or screen-printing contract requires Pantone references.
- The result must be controlled across a defined ink, substrate and proofing process.
- A client needs a physical swatch book or a documented spot-ink formula.
Before sending a job to production, ask the printer which colour libraries, spot inks, profiles and proofing method they support. If they cannot accept Freetone numbers directly, treat the selected swatch as a visual target and agree on the conversion and proof before approval.
Are Freetone colours the same as Pantone?
They are intended to look like corresponding Pantone colours on screen, but “same” needs a qualification. The interview contains Semple’s assertion about Pantone 648C; it does not contain spectrometer readings, a standards-body certification or an independent test across papers, inks and printing processes. A screen swatch is also affected by display calibration, colour management and viewing conditions.
Accordingly, describe Freetone colours as Pantone-like or visually intended to correspond unless your own production partner has validated a particular workflow. Do not promise universal physical ink equivalence from the palette alone.
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- PRECISION MIXING WITHOUT MESS - Each liquid acrylic paint bottle uses a dropper for exact drops on a wet palette, making acrylic paints easier to thin, blend, and shade while reducing waste compared with pots; ideal for repeatable mixes.
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Why Adobe’s Pantone change triggered a wider argument
For Semple, the issue was not merely where a swatch appears in a menu. Pantone functions as shared infrastructure: artists, screen printers, manufacturers and clients use it to hand off intent. When access to that language is tied to a subscription, control shifts from a broadly shared reference toward a vendor-managed service.
That is why Freetone is both a practical tool and a protest. It keeps a numbered colour vocabulary available inside Adobe workflows while challenging the assumption that a basic production language should be locked behind recurring access fees.
Semple’s open-source position
Semple extends the same argument beyond colour libraries. Asked about open-source software, he says, “Yes, 100%, there’s loads of stuff. I think open source is just the answer, I believe in freedom.” He adds: “As far as I’m concerned, it’s out there, use it, change it. incorporate it, the more people the better, I think.”
His own software choices are pragmatic rather than doctrinaire. He identifies Pixelmator as his daily paid-once editor and says GIMP is strong open-source software, while also acknowledging that GIMP does not fully replace Photoshop for him. That distinction matters: supporting open tools does not require pretending that every open application has identical features or workflow compatibility.
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How to use Freetone responsibly in a print workflow
- Choose the swatch in the digital brief. Record the Freetone name or number, the application, document colour mode and any profile used.
- Tell the production partner what the number means. Say explicitly that it is a Freetone/Pantone-like digital reference, not automatically a Pantone ink order.
- Request a process-specific translation. The printer should determine the appropriate spot ink, CMYK build or other process for the chosen press and substrate.
- Proof under agreed conditions. Review a proof or press sample using the client’s viewing and approval method; do not approve from an uncalibrated screen alone.
- Document the accepted result. Keep the approved proof, substrate, ink or profile and any conversion notes with the job so a later reprint has a reproducible target.
Other Semple products and the broader pigment project
Culture Hustle also lists a physical Freetone Book. Availability, edition, seller and stock can change, so confirm those details at the point of purchase rather than assuming every listing is current.
Another Culture Hustle product, Black 4.0, is described by the company as an ultra-matte acrylic paint absorbing at least 99% of visible light. That is a vendor product claim and belongs to Semple’s broader pigment activism; it is separate from what Freetone establishes as a digital colour palette.
Verdict
Freetone is the most useful when you need free, numbered digital colour references and want to keep a shared vocabulary available without a Pantone subscription. It is not a substitute for a printer’s validated ink specification, a physical Pantone book or a client requirement that explicitly names Pantone. Semple’s larger point is straightforward: colour tools are part of creative infrastructure, and the ability to use, modify and share them should not be treated as a luxury.
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