Pantone launches SkinTone Validated program for more inclusive displays

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Pantone's new SkinTone certification wants to ensure your next monitor is more inclusive

Pantone has announced Pantone SkinTone Valdiated to certify displays capable of representing the 110 different human skin tones in its guide.

Pantone today announced that it's launching SkinTone Validated, a new validation program for displays that ensures they can accurately display all kinds of skin tones. Certification with this program assures that a given display can realistically represent all kinds of people with different skin tones.

Pantone is well known for its development of the Pantone Matching System, and you may already be familiar with a few devices that are Pantone Validated. A Pantone Validated display is certified to meet Pantone's color calibration and accuracy standards, covering the entire spectrum of colors in the Pantone Matching System. This generally indicates that a display is especially suited for designers and color artists.

With inclusivity becoming an increasingly bigger concern for customers (and thus, companies), Pantone wants to go a step further in making sure that displays can deliver an authentic representation of each person. The Pantone SkinTone Validated certification is based on Pantone's own SkinTone Guide, which includes a collection of 110 unique skin tone colors based on "thousands of human skin measurements" from different ethnicities and ages. Pantone hopes that this certification program will also push the tech industry to become more inclusive with its products.

“We are extremely proud to be on the cutting edge of inclusivity in technology with our Pantone SkinTone Validated program,” said Iain Pike, Director of Licensing and Business Development at Pantone. “We look forward to working with companies across industries to realize skin tone color accuracy in their products and services for a better and more accurate experience with their technology.”

Those attending CES this year can check out some of the first Pantone SkinTone Validated displays, courtesy of BenQ. The company is one of the first adopters of the new certification, with select models in the DesignVue PD and PhotoVue SW models being some of the first to achieve the certification. This includes the DesignVue PD3205U and PD2705U, with more models to come soon.

Accurate color reproduction for various skin tones has been a problem in technology for a while, and thankfully, some companies are starting to address that. For example, Google's Pixel 6 debuted with Real Tone, a set of improvements to help realistically capture different skin tones in photos.