If you’re in the market for some branded USB memory sticks for your company and you want your logo printed on the sticks then one option is to get the body of the USB stick pantone matched to a primary colour from your logo.

Pantone matching is simply a way to define a particular colour and reproduce that same colour time and time again to

Pantone Matched Twister

the same level of accuracy (albeit the material the colour is printed onto can have a bearing on the finished result). It’s a technique that is commonly used across the design and print industry and the use of “pantone matched” printing is a way to ensure consistency of a company’s brand irrespective of who is producing the printed product.

Pantone matching is commonly used in two distinctly different ways when customised USB memory sticks are produced:

1. The colours of any logo, brand or design that is printed onto the USB sticks are typically defined by the customer(s) in terms of pantone colour. This ensures a high degree of accuracy when the sticks are printed in the factory. Where pantone colours can’t be supplied the colours are matched on a “best match” basis and the accuracy of the finished article is very much in the hands of the printer. Whilst most printers have years of experience to draw upon and will typically produced good results on a “best match” basis there is always an element of risk when working (printing) this way.
2. Rather than buy USB flash drives in the standard colours (typically black, white, red, blue or silver) it’s possible to get them manufactured so that the body shell of the USB drives is an exact pantone match to any colour you want. This option involves mixing inks with the plastic when the fabrication is done to achieve an exact pantone matched body shell. The end results look stunning albeit the trick is to ensure you choose the colour of the body shell well so that it contrasts or works well with the logo printed onto the USB stick. On the Twister models where the logo is printed onto the “clip” that “twists” around it’s usual to match the body of the twister to one of the primary colours from the printed logo.

USB Pantone Matching

Pantone matching not only ensures accurate reproduction of colours but when it is used to produce a customised body shell the results lift the finished product from a “standard” USB flash drive to something that is unique. Whilst these “pantone matched” USB sticks are not truly bespoke sticks because they use a standard factory design then do illustrate that a significant amount of effort and thought has been put into their production.

Pantone matching of the body shell is only available on a limited range of USB memory sticks. Depending on the quantity ordered the incremental cost is relatively small but the results certainly justify it.