Motorola brigns Pantone Color of the Year 2024 Peach Fuzz to its smartphones

The moment Pantone announced their Color of the Year for 2024, we expected a lot of brands to officially and unofficially carry the Peach Fuzz tones for their respective products. If that is a color that you prefer or if you like that shade, then good for you as all year round you’ll see different brands and products carry the hue. If you’re not a fan, well, you’ll have to endure it and just look for other colors that match your preferences. If you’re the former and you’re looking for a new Android phone, then Motorola is a very good option.

Designer: Motorola

Motorola has come up with a tie-in with Pantone to bring Peach Fuzz versions of two of their newest smartphones, the motorola razr 40 ultra and the motorola edge 40 neo. The only difference between these versions of the smartphones and the original iteration is that they’re carrying the warm and cozy hues of the color of 2024, “highlighting the importance of shared moments” through the combination of Pantone’s “mastery of color” and Motorola’s “legendary design”

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For those who prefer a more hip and modern device, the flippable design of the motorola razr 40 ultra / razr+ with the Peach Fuzz color with the vegan leather finish might appeal more as they’re branding it for the extroverts. It boasts of several camera modules like its 12MP dual cam, the 13MP ultrawide lens, and the 32MP wide selfie camera. Those looking for a more “sophisticated” smartphone can go with the motorola edge 40 neo with its 6.55-inch P-OLED display, 5,000 mAh battery, and camera setup (50MP main, 13MP ultrawide lens, 32MP selfie cam).

Both Motorola and Pantone believe that color deepens our interaction with our devices as they express our individuality and preferences. The Peach Fuzz color in particular was chosen to harness “connection, community, and personal wellbeing”, which is what Motorola also wants to encapsulate in their smartphones.

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Embrace Compassion And Connection With Pantone’s 2024 Color Of The Year: Peach Fuzz

The eagerly anticipated moment has arrived, and the designated color of the year for 2024 by Pantone is PANTONE 13-1023 Peach Fuzz. Amid worldwide conflicts, climate change, and multiple sources of stress, Peach Fuzz is a “velvety gentle peach whose all-embracing spirit enriches heart, mind, and body,” Laurie Pressman, Vice President, Pantone Color Institute said. This soft and comforting peach shade evokes a sense of warmth and gentleness, conveying a message of kindness, tenderness, communal spirit, and cooperation.

What Is the Pantone Color of the Year and Why Is It Important?

Annually, during the initial days of December, The Pantone Color Institute headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey reveals the latest Color of the coming Year. Recognized globally as a leading source of color expertise, the Pantone Color Institute tracks yearly color trends, considering diverse societal aspects like fashion, marketing, social media, and politics to determine the influential Color of the Year, impacting design and brand marketing.

What is the psychology of Peach Fuzz color?

Peach is a great color for making us feel calm and positive. It shields us from negative emotions like sadness and disappointment, encouraging us to be our best selves even in tough times. Peach is widely appreciated as an excellent color for communication and instilling a sense of calm and courtesy. This color radiates positivity and consistently revitalizes us, especially during challenging moments.

Which colors complement Peach Fuzz?

Peach is a warm hue between pink and orange on the color wheel, distinct from orange and terra cotta.

Explore the vibrant and lively color combinations that emerge when peach is paired with various hues applied to these functional and aesthetically pleasing home décor products.

Image Credits: Darren Ryan

Image Credits: Darren Ryan

Image Credits: Darren Ryan

You can combine peach with lively colors such as blue, yellow, orange, grey, white, and green—pair peach with white, grey, and black for a modern aesthetic.

Explore the mood boards through product design, highlighting colors that pair well with peach, along with innovative products and ideas.

Are you a sushi lover?

Enjoy the beauty of abstract art!

Instagram’s latest video booths draw inspiration from solar and lunar eclipses!

No celebration is whole without a slice of cake!

This modular vase system is perfect for organizing and caring for multiple plants in small urban spaces.

Photo by Mikhail Nilov

Do you want to embrace the essence of sophisticated minimalism.

How to introduce Peach Fuzz into your interiors?

Peach color can refresh the look of the décor and create a lively ambiance. If you’re seeking to bring a touch of this peachy color into your space, here are tips to get you going.

1. Home Décor

A fantastic way to introduce Peach Fuzz into your living space is by incorporating it into the items adorning your shelves. This subtle tone makes a soothing impact, so consider starting with vases, sculptures, or floral arrangements that can be layered to subtly infuse this lively shade. If you’re still craving more of this color, you can enhance the vibrancy in your home with peach color lighting, such as candles and lampshades, or make a bold statement with a couch or accent chair.

The Nyx Candleholder by Villa Arev x French Cliché is a limited edition, playful twist on traditional candleholders, made of glazed earthenware—a colorful tribute to grand candelabras.

Decorate the space with potted plants.

The Candy Land ombre peach curtain has the ability to produce captivating and dynamic effects for your home.

2. Soft Furnishing

Textiles provide an excellent means to harmonize this peach hue with a touch of added softness. Drape a woven magenta blanket over your couch or bed to introduce a cozy texture and a personal touch to the décor. Enhance comfort by layering vibrant accent pillows on your bed, couch, or outdoor furniture, and by incorporating peach-hued towels into your bathroom, or incorporate this color with flowing curtains that filter sunlight through the windows.

This Peach All Season Comfort Luxurious Soft Comforter brings a modern aesthetic to a neutral-toned bedroom and adds a pop of color.

The Aram rug by Hands captivates with its distinctive shape and layered design inspired by sandstone formations. It showcases a spiral pattern reminiscent of the gradual erosion seen in sedimentary rocks, echoing the natural formations shaped by shifting sand dunes over countless millennia.

The circular patterns of the Bloom Rug draws inspiration from the dry gardens or karesansui gardens of Japan. Adding a touch of uniqueness and chic style to your home, this rug is hand-tufted and meticulously hand-trimmed to replicate the aesthetic of Japanese gardens.

3. Create an Accent Wall

If you want to fully embrace the peach fuzz aesthetic, contemplate incorporating it into your space through an accent wall, capturing the soothing hue. Begin by selecting a focal point in your home—whether it’s the wall behind your bed or TV, or the wall along your staircase, and introduce the accent color with wall paint or textured paint. For a less permanent burst of color, consider using tapestries or peel-and-stick wallpaper as an ideal temporary solution.

Choose a soft floral wallpaper with peach blooms or go for bold patterns with Blossom Peach Chinoiserie Wallpaper for a touch of intricate style.

This orange and peach wallpaper showcases the gradual transition from one hue to another, typically progressing from lighter to darker tints and shades.

4. Create a Gallery Wall

Creating a gallery wall is an excellent method of incorporating this color into your home décor. Use peach-colored prints or peach-colored frames against a neutral backdrop, such as beige, white, or grey walls.

The inspiration for the Desert Gallery Wall comes from journeys to Saguaro National Park in Arizona.

5. Beautify with Accent Pieces

How about bringing in the beauty of Peach Fuzz via accent pieces?

The Chhau Donna Cabinet features beautiful colors, a nautical resin head in gold, two drawers, and ample shelves. Its timeless design and superior craftsmanship make it a standout in your space, offering a captivating experience every day! The cabinet boasts two drawers and ample shelves for practical storage.

The Hullabaloo is a unique standalone bookshelf with a twisting design created from four cuboidal quadrants forming a circle. Functionality is achieved by opening each quadrant, and a translucent back adds mystery. Its shape, requiring multiple glances, blends aesthetics seamlessly with function in a compact yet captivating design.

The Marigold One Arm Sofa designed by Fleur Delesalle features a beautifully rounded bench-like design, showcasing exquisite details from every angle—front, side, and back. This sofa serves as an ideal room divider. Its distinctive armrest also functions as a comfortable headrest, making it perfect for a relaxing break.

6. Design the Tablescape

Revitalize your dining area with Peach Fuzz by creatively using your tablescape to mix and match plates, cups, bowls, napkins, and more. For a subtle nod to the color, consider placing a beautiful bouquet of peach flowers on your dining table or incorporating peach hand towels in your kitchen. For a more complete embrace of the color, introduce a Peach Fuzz table runner or placemats to rejuvenate your dining space, infusing new life into gatherings with family and friends.

Soirée8’s collection is both eccentric and subtle, bold yet minimal, seamlessly blending vintage and modern elements.

The Pantone Limited Edition Espresso Mug could serve as the perfect cups for the season, bringing the peach color into your everyday life.

Embrace the beauty of fresh flowers!

Apply these style tips and embrace the flavour of Peach Fuzz in your home décor for the year 2024.

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Yale Assure Lock 2 adds a pop of colour to your door with Pantone’s Color of the Year 2023

More often than not, door locks and other related security devices carry monochromatic and simple colors. There’s probably a reason for that which has something to do with the lock or device fitting in with doors, cabinets, etc. But there are also times when color-loving people would want some pop into their security devices to make them stand out. Yale is releasing a new variant of their famous smart lock that would appeal to that demographic.

Designer: Yale and Pantone

Click Here to Buy Now!

Yale has parrtnered with Pantone to bring what is probably their most colorful product to date. The Yale Assure Lock 2 is releasing a version of this popular smart lock that carries the color of the year: Pantone 18-1750 Viva Magenta. It makes your door, cabinet, or whatever room it is locking a bit more colorful if you’re already tired of the same old black, gray, metal, and other monochromatic colors that the brand usually carries. Even if this shade of magenta isn’t your favorite color, it certainly adds a certain pizzaz to your entryway.

“Partnering with Pantone, the world’s leading color authority, speaks volumes about our dedication to creating products that fit both your lifestyle and your home,” said Garrett Lovejoy, Vice President of Product, Yale and August. “We’ve taken a unique, eye-catching hue like PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta and applied it to a traditionally understated, discreet device — creating a stunning, one-of-a-kind smart lock that makes a powerful first impression of the home.”

Aside from its color, the lock is also 30% smaller than their usual Assure smartlocks so this means it can still blend in if it’s the same color as your door and if it isn’t, it doesn’t really scream out loud. It can still accentuate whatever door it is that you want to highlight in your home or office. It has all the other features that the Assure Lock 2 brings including full key-free entry, remote access, and auto-lock and unlock. It’s also compatible with most doors so there’s that assurance.

Design-wise, it’s pretty interesting to see Yale branch out into more colorful designs and it should appeal to maximalists who are looking for more colorful locks. Security-wise, I don’t know if it’s a deterrent to those who would try to “pick” this digital lock or if it’s something that screams out “pick me!” because of its color. If this is a success, expect some more colorful things from Yale.

 

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Get a splash of Pantone’s 2023 Color of the Year : Viva Magenta

An unconventional color for unconventional times, the Pantone Color Institute chose 18-1750 Viva Magenta as the Pantone Color of 2023. Three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, global lockdowns have drastically changed how most people choose to work and live. Off late, there have also been some unprecedented circumstances, such as facing war, an unstable economy, climate crisis, and breakdown of supply chains that have added to the challenging times. Hence, as we usher into the new year, the human race must redefine its vision and write a new narrative. Resonating with this idea, Viva Magenta has an electrifying aura, signals strength, energy, and vigor, encourages one to be optimistic and motivated, and gathers collective strength to move forward. Additionally, this unique color communicates power in an assertive but not aggressive way and is also the color of the resilience of the human spirit.

“In this age of technology, we look to draw inspiration from nature and what is real,” says Leatrice Eiseman, the Pantone institute’s executive director. She adds, “Invoking the forces of nature, PANTONE galvanized our spirit, helping us to build our inner strength.”
The Pantone color of the year is a vibrant and nuanced hue lifted from the red family. Featuring a balance and fusion of warm and cool tones, the bold and one-of-a-kind shade inspires one to be fearless and echo exuberance. Nature was considered one of the most inspiring sources for choosing the color, and it takes a cue from natural cochineal dyes derived from a type of small insect, one of the strongest and brightest the world has known. Viva Majenta is also an attempt to revisit, respect, and reconnect with history while hoping for a more positive future, as the rich hues of the natural dye have been used since the second century BC.

Image Courtesy: Huge

Viva Magenta is evocative of the metaverse as it examines the connections between the real and virtual worlds and strives to balance nature and technology. It promotes out-of-the-box thinking and innovation and encourages one to choose unconventional paths and carve new journeys. The hybrid color oscillates between the physical and multi-dimensional virtual world, thus offering an opportunity to reconnect with the earth. The intent is to immerse ourselves in creative energies and enhance our well-being.
As digital spaces have accelerated globalization and brought forth a new way of living, the virtual world is a prominent part of our everyday life. It cleverly merges the warmth of the natural world with the endless, rich possibilities of digital space and artificial intelligence. A psychological and emotional component also allows people to connect with others and deepen their empathy. As a result, the ecosystem of the metaverse needs to explore this, too, as it will enable people to connect and be empathetic toward others. This year’s Color of the Year is audacious, empowering, and inclusive of everyone, with the same verve for life and a rebellious spirit. It is an audacious color and is full of strength and wit.

Balloon Swan (Magenta) by Jeff Koon

Color attracts attention, sets the tone, and plays a key role in enhancing one’s mood. Hence it is important to choose the right color palette for the interiors. So break away from the traditional interior design schemes and discover how Viva Magenta can infuse a fresh, dynamic, and joyous vibe into any space.

Choose the Colour Combination

Viva Magenta is a rich color that adds depth and weight to the walls and pairs beautifully with neutral shades of whites and grays to achieve wonderful contrast and balance. It creates an uplifting and playful atmosphere in any space. When paired with light woody tones, it infuses an organic vibe into the room and lends an outdoorsy quality to the interior space. The generous dose of this hue works well with other pops of bright colors and injects vibrance and personality while offering a cozy and inviting vibe. However, at times this combination may seem a bit dark, so it’s pivotal to introduce layered lighting to balance the space. Beautify the interiors with plenty of plants or flowers. The hues of red and green are on the opposite ends of the color wheel and tend to contrast each other and impart elegance.

Image Courtesy: Carl Dellatore

Create a Focus Wall

A splash of Viva Magenta on a focus wall enlivens the area and prevents the space from looking cold and sterile. It’s a rich accent hue for the interiors, and a perfect way to inject personality in the form of wall paint or wallpaper, or one can experiment with visual textures or textured paint. Note that a burst of this eye-catching color has the potential to inject quirk and lift the interiors of a muted space. To create a focus wall, select a spot that immediately catches the eye — think of the wall behind the sofas or dining table. One can also create an accent wall to bring a joyful visual flavor. Opt for a refreshing variety of tiles for the backsplash wall of the bathroom and make a strong style statement. Lending character to the walls with photo frames or murals in neutral colors will do wonders on such a focus wall.

Accesorise the Space

The Pantone color is clearly a show stealer and is striking enough to create a cozy and inviting atmosphere. Small doses as an accent color do not overwhelm the space, and small accessories are easy to swap for a seasonal look. Viva Magenta is a beautiful hue that adds drama and can be introduced through artwork, candles, vases, and sculptural décor pieces. Consider using this nature-inspired shade in a matte finish, as it may impart a synthetic look in a gloss finish.

Image Courtesy: IBDesign Otthon

Bring Statement Furniture

Accent pieces of furniture in this attention-grabbing color can make the space stand out. Viva Magenta is not only energetic but there is a richness to this color that not only brings in an opulent feel but also goes with materials like wood and metal. Colorful pieces of accent furniture such as the sofa, accent chair, ottoman, and cocktail table create a bold statement; they add a pop of color and draw the immediate attention of the eye in both traditional and contemporary spaces.

Image Courtesy: Sanderson

Add Color with Soft Furnishing

Get creative with the soft furnishing and add personality, as these pieces quickly change the look and feel of the space. Viva Magenta is a dark color that may look intense, so introduce it in smaller ways with decorative accents like pillows, curtains, throws, bedspreads, carpets. Use it in limited doses; the heavier the color, the more visual space it takes up, making the room look smaller. Consider a single showstopper element in Viva Magenta, like a rug or runner, to create a warm and intimate space and demarcate spaces on the floor. A statement piece is striking enough to infuse glamor and create an inviting atmosphere and offer playful freshness into the space. However, make sure that the rest of the furniture and walls are in neutral tones. For a luxurious look, opt for furnishing with a soft and rich texture in this unique shade.

 

Image Courtesy: Studio Tmrw

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Very Peri product designs that celebrate Pantone’s 2022 color of the year!

Pantone recently announced that its 2022 color of the year is a shade of blue! Called Very Peri, and described as “periwinkle blue”, the intriguing color, to be honest, looks almost purple, instead of blue! “PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri displays a spritely, joyous attitude and dynamic presence that encourages courageous creativity and imaginative expressions,” says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of The Pantone Color Institute. In an ode to the newest Pantone color, we’ve curated a collection of product designs that perfectly capture this mesmerizing shade of purple! From a MagSafe iStorage that adds snap-on physical drive to increase the storage on your phone to Black Panther-inspired sneakers – these innovative products are truly a periwinkle purple!

1. The iStorage

Designer Abdelrahman Shaapan has an idea – Magsafe Storage. Designed to resemble Apple’s newly launched MagSafe Battery Pack (although Abdel came up with this design all the way back in May), the iStorage is a nifty wireless drive that lets you add extra storage to your phone in literally a snap. How would the iStorage even work in theory? Clearly, the MagSafe is built just for hooking accessories to the iPhone and chargers to the wireless charging coil. How would the iStorage even transfer data? Well, even though Abdelrahman’s iStorage is just a fan-made concept, the real device could easily communicate with the iPhone or any other Apple device using AirDrop protocols. The snap-on feature would probably be just something of a convenience, but I could easily imagine the iStorage as being Apple’s own hard drive… something that the company hasn’t really ever worked on.

2. The Pebble

Titled the Pebble, these gorgeously vivid and funky cutlery tools are a collaboration between Pentatonic and i am OTHER, a creative collective assembled by Pharrell, and are made mostly from recycled materials. The unusually vibrant cutlery set is named after the pebble-shaped container it comes in. The colored container is made using plastic recycled from music CDs, and perfectly houses a spoon, knife, fork, a pair of chopsticks, and even a collapsible drinking straw. Plastic handles for the cutlery are crafted from recycled food packaging, while the cutlery themselves are crafted from steel, with a highly durable anodized titanium coating for strength as well as to give the cutlery their unmistakable vibrant purple hue.

3. The GameCube Controller

After waiting for as long as 2 years for Nintendo or another third-party modder to make GameCube joy-cons for the Switch, ShankMods decided to do it himself post the release of Super Smash Bros. for the Switch, and the reissue of the GameCube controller. The design process is detailed, months-long, and a strong combination of catharsis and nostalgia. Shank decided to repurpose an existing GameCube controller rather than a 3D printing one. He, along with help from his friends, then tore apart the Switch Joy-Con and added the PCB and components to the GameCube housing, with the help of a few 3D printed components that would give the controllers the best of both worlds. Shank even managed to integrate the Z buttons and the four extra buttons on the original controllers into his mod.

4. The Royal Oak “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon

The Royal Oak “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon looks a lot like something Shuri would cook up in her Wakandan lab. It uses the signature black, purple, and silver color combination, while also using textural elements and patterns that help it look the part. The hands-on watch face closely resembles the fang necklace seen around the Black Panther suit’s neck area, while the exhibition back uses a low-poly pattern quite similar to the one seen in the film’s artwork. The miniature figurine on the front looks stunningly realistic, with a laser-engraved micro-texture on the suit, while the rest of the details are hand-carved and hand-painted to absolute perfection. Adding dynamism to the front of the watch is that tourbillon, which completes one full rotation every minute.

5. The HYPERBOUNCE

The HYPERBOUNCE concept by Alexander Ordonez explores using the inherent ‘bounciness’ of spheres by adding a series of balloons to the outsole. Not only do the balloons help activate your foot’s pressure points, but they also add an extra spring in your step as you walk, giving credence to the name, HYPERBOUNCE.T he shoes come with what I like to call a Black Panther aesthetic, sporting a dark gray exterior with purple accents that glow on the inside, much like the Vibranium nanites in the Black Panther suit that glow when they absorb kinetic energy.

6. Mac Mini Concept

An interesting concept design by Qocept Graphics gives us a purview of the Mac mini design for this year with very subtle modifications on the outside and some major improvements on the inside. The size on this one reduces the footprint a tad with dimensions of 13.5cm in width and length, and a 3cm thickness – making it the thinnest Mac thus far. To provide extra protection to the aluminum body, and a premium overall feel, the Mac mini concept gets a 2cm thin acrylic enclosure. This also raises the machine slightly above the work surface for active dissipation of heat.

7. BaoPham Design’s e-bike concept

This e-bike concept differentiates by merging a more rounded/not-so-edgy (finally a non-Cybertruck inspired idea) with the neon glow of the Tron universe we love. The e-bike concept designed by BaoPham Design is eye-candy for all the right reasons, and our favorite is the humongous tires, providing a contact patch so wide, it could do without the side stands and act as a self-standing bike. Just imagine this two-wheeler in a sci-fi flick, as the protagonist rides it to the badlands to seek revenge from the evil scientist-turned villain. Sounds like a plot you love? The purple hues of the e-bike provide a mysterious element that is supported by the black and white contrasting sides of the e-bike.

8. RE:CYCLE

Crafted from recycled aluminum coffee capsules, RE:CYCLE is the brainchild of Jimmy Östholm, a bike entrepreneur. The aluminum in the coffee capsules is melted down and then used by Vélosophy to create the sturdy and rigid bike. A perfect marriage of sustainability and design, it is an instance of recycling that has been upcycled. RE:CYCLE maintains Vélosophy’s simple and iconic design philosophy, a minimalistic and sleek bike with clear-cut edges. However, there are a few surprising touches! The vibrant purple frame has been inspired by Arpeggio (the famous Nespresso coffee), while the bell has been molded to resemble the shape of the much-loved coffee capsule.

9. Eclipse Booths

Inspired by a recent viewing of a solar eclipse, Goodrich designed Eclipse Booths to offer a photo-visual experience for Instagram users to immerse their grids in the cosmos. Describing the booths in her own words, Goodrich says, “Lit from behind, the round portion of the booth emits a soft, indirect light. The mirrors on the ceiling extend the graphic steps throughout the booth’s interior to allude to… steps leading into eternity.” While one of the booths embodies the night sky with a darker color palette of twilight purple and midnight blue, a cooler, icy light emanates from behind the round plate – mimicking the Moon moving into the Earth’s shadow. The Eclipse Booth’s solar counterpart echoes the day we all spent cutting up old cereal boxes to watch as the Moon, Sun, and Earth aligned. With peach-rose suede curtains and tangerine-yellow accents, the brighter of the two Eclipse Booths pours warmer, golden light from behind the round plate.

10. Oyasai Crayons

Did you know that over 150 million crayons are discarded annually throughout the U.S. by restaurants alone? Most of the crayons in the market are made of paraffin wax, which contains petroleum, a toxic chemical to the environment making the product non-biodegradable and harmful – now imagine a child putting that in their mouth. That is where Oyasai Crayons come in – these safe and organic crayons are made from rice bran oil and rice wax from rice bran. Both solid rice bran wax and liquid rice bran oil are byproducts of the rice polishing process so these crayons are essentially made from waste. The pigment is all-natural too, it comes from recycled plant materials like outer leaves of vegetables are typically discarded after harvesting. However, Oyasai Crayons use this food waste by collecting it and converting it into colors for the crayons. In fact, these are the same pigments used for natural food coloring further showcasing that everything in the product is chemical-free.

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The big problem with Pantone’s Color of the Year… and why it desperately needs to be fixed.

Colors, for Pantone, are their entire life. They’re literally what the company’s foundation rests on, and I’m sure people who work at Pantone are extremely passionate about the intricate nuances of hues, shades, tints, balance, saturation, palettes, pigments, HEX codes, or any of the jargon associated with colors… but colors, for Pantone, also present an incredibly lucrative business model (the company was valued at $180 million in 2007); and therein lies the massive problem.

Another year, another hue, more merchandise…

Pantone unveiled its Color Of The Year 2022 this week – a fine shade of “dynamic periwinkle blue hue with a vivifying violet-red undertone” called Very Peri, meant to represent humanity embracing an “altered landscape” after an intense period of isolation, and “opening up to a new vision as we re-write our lives”. The tradition dates back to 2000, in a practice that Pantone conducts with representatives from various nations’ color standards groups. Every December, Pantone unveils its new color for the year moving forward, effectively instructing creatives and companies around the world of what their experts believe should be the new year’s palette. Creatives will base their designs off the colors, fashion industries will market new collections based on these palettes, and companies will push out merchandise with Pantone’s licensed hues to a hungry audience in what can best be described as a coordinated market effort to create demand and to fuel a cycle of consumerism… the kind of consumerism that conveniently renews each year and is associated with art and creativity so it feels less market-ey and more art-y. Cyclical consumerism is bad, but art is good… so the results lie in a massive grey area (Grey was ironically one of the colors of the year for 2021).

A brief history of the Pantone Color of the Year

Words from a Quartz article in 2019 perfectly sum up Pantone’s selection process: “Pantone’s color prediction is, in part, a self-fulfilling prophecy”. The selection of a hue isn’t based on an empirical survey or an analysis of a running trend. It is, for the most part, selected by a committee through creative intuition and debate, following which, the color is then propagated by an elaborate marketing campaign. It’s no coincidence that as soon as Pantone announces a Color of the Year, like clockwork, companies release merchandise in the same hue. Pantone doesn’t predict a trend, it simply orchestrates it. “Months before the unveiling in December, it enters into licensing agreements with various companies—from nail polish to hotel suites”, the Quartz article points out. “Suddenly, the color of the year is everywhere.”

The idea is absolute genius, since it creates anticipation, injecting excitement into an otherwise boring color business… After all, it’s not like Pantone is constantly “inventing” new colors – colors have existed for millennia – although the Very Peri hue is new to Pantone’s catalog and was specially developed for the year 2022 (former editor-in-chief of ELLE Decoration UK, Michelle Ogundehin, has some strong thoughts on this year’s choice of color). The issue, however, is that you can’t possibly pre-emptively hype a color’s prominence into modern culture. Even a “global authority on color” can’t possibly make a hue go viral… society is much more complicated than that. It (sometimes) works for fashion, but not colors. Although both act as channels for expression and communication, fashion is personal and subjective… colors, however, are much more universal. This also opens Pantone up to further scrutiny when the color “doesn’t work out”. Pantone picked a shade called “Greenery” as its Color Of The Year for 2017, a year when California saw massive wildfires; its color pick for 2019, Living Coral, seemed quite foot-in-mouth when the Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report of 2019 predicted a grim future for corals off the coast of Australia.

What the Color of the Year really symbolizes… for Pantone, and for everyone else.

Each year, the Color of the Year is announced amid fanfare, along with a press release from Pantone that provides a lengthy explanation of what the new hue of the year is supposed to represent. However, the Color of the Year means two very different things to both Pantone and us, the consumers of color. For Pantone, the Color of the Year represents an annual effort to ‘market’ a color and earn revenue based on merchandise and licensing… for us, however, the color represents what Pantone tells us, and almost inevitably, like a fortune cookie message gone wrong, the events of the year can prove to be Pantone’s very undoing. 2021’s colors, Hope and Illuminating Gray, came at a time when numerous countries experienced the deadly blows of the Delta variant wreaking more havoc in the pandemic’s global second wave, while others experienced great political and economic turmoil, and the entire world suffered the wrath of a supply chain crisis that experts estimate will last well into 2024. Colors are a business for Pantone, but for us humans, they’re still vessels for moods, feelings, and emotions.

That’s where the somewhat foolish idealist in me raises objections. The term “Color of the Year” in itself sounds misleading. It isn’t like a Best Actor award, or Sportsman of the Year award, where accolades are given based on performance or a track record. Contrary to what the phrase is ideally supposed to represent, it’s less of a color of the year and more of a trend or guideline of the year. The color is predictive, rather than reflective, and that’s where the problem really lies because you can predict trends, you can’t predict emotion. What the color tells us to feel for the entire year can sometimes wholly differ from what we end up feeling for the entire year. The symbolic message behind 2021’s Hope Yellow and Illuminating Gray would be painfully ironic to a Palestinian or an Afghan or a Uighur.

In retrospect, here’s what the real Colors of the Year looked like for 2020 and 2021, based on headlines and global sentiment.

2020 – Pantone Deep Water – Hospital Beds, Surgical Masks, Clearer Skies, Democrat Victory, WFH Softwares.

2021 – Pantone Storm – Ever Given, Chip Shortage, Squid Game, Greenery in the Arctic, Afghan Withdrawal, Palestine Protests

Things get tougher when the symbolism of the Color of the Year ends up being more literal than metaphorical – like in 2017 when Pantone chose ‘Greenery’ as their Color of the Year, or 2019 when they settled on ‘Living Coral’. In these cases, colors aren’t representative of a global mood or zeitgeist but are quite literally taken from nature, making the hollowness of the entire yearly charade much more apparent. One could argue buying a Living Coral edition of the 2019 Google Home Mini did absolutely nothing to raise awareness for coral bleaching, nor did it actually materially help the conditions of marine life in any way. Not that it’s Pantone’s job to fix the environment or heal the corals in the first place, but what is it if not ‘color appropriation’? Like cultural appropriation, ‘color appropriation’ is nothing more than borrowing a color and its emotional aspects and marketing it for economic gain.

How to fix it?

At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite, I don’t believe in getting rid of the Color of the Year. As ultimately meaningless as it may be in the long run to most of the population, it’s a fun little annual exercise that, at least for the creative community, gives us a little excitement and sparks our inspiration/imagination. That aside, maybe it’s time Pantone devises a new, more publicly inclusive way of picking their yearly colors instead of relying on an out-of-touch boardroom of executives and marketing heads. Maybe that way, the colors will actually mean something to us all, rather than being a woke marketing effort to broadcast messages of ‘hope’, ‘positivity’, and ‘exploration’ while companies make money off merchandise that’s only good for that particular year. The Pantone Color of the Year has the potential to be much more meaningful and impactful than simply being a revenue stream for global corporations… or conversely, embrace it for what it currently is and rebrand it to the Pantone “Trend Prediction of the Year”.

How about fixing it from a media perspective? After all, design, culture, and news websites like ours play a significant role in pushing these trends and their subsequent products. Truth be told, the reality probably won’t change unless Pantone decides to change first. It’s still in our nature to fawn over delicious hues and color palettes (because our aesthetic-driven minds are trained to), and as a blog, we’re still required to report on the intersection between design and news, which means blogs like ours will continue to showcase designs drenched in Pantone’s Very Peri. That being said, the purpose of this piece is to reflect on the 2-decade practice and propose a better way forward with the hope that Pantone realizes that the powers and capabilities of the color spectrum are far more than being simply drivers of consumerism.

The post The big problem with Pantone’s Color of the Year… and why it desperately needs to be fixed. first appeared on Yanko Design.

Pantone Lifestyle Gallery opens in Hong Kong, using color to invigorate, motivate and keep you going this 2021!

Pantone’s authority on colors is acclaimed around the globe, and now the New Jersey-based trend research expert has set foot in Hong Kong. Yes, Pantone has opened their first lifestyle concept store inside the Cityplaza’s Eslite Spectrum bookstore in the Tai Koo district. They call it the Pantone Lifestyle Gallery – and in the true sense – it’s a gallery of hues opened in collaboration with Issho, a lifestyle retailer. Although it’s worth pondering over the timing of Pantone’s decision to open a physical retail store in the current turbulent times of the pandemic-affected the world. Still, Pantone wants to go spread a dash of color in people’s lives who for the most part of the week are stuck in the secure confines of their homes, to truly explore colours and their impact on the human psyche. Maybe a blushing pink would give you faith or illuminating, the Pantone color for 2021 would cheer you up on dark days!

The store is spread across 600 square feet of space – draped in a dash of colors – sexy pink, cool blue, calming green, and refreshing orange – you name it and the store has it. The different displays and islands of the store are marked in blocked patterns – for example, the entrance has a sky blue hue to lure in customers. Inside, the customers will find sections to explore the homeware, loungewear, and home accessories islands. The loungewear section of the lifestyle store has trendy colorful clothes for the young generation – like sweatshirts, fabric slippers, jersey t-shorts, and more. They call it the Funmix collection which, according to Pantone explores the varying emotions and stories with bi-color combos having harmonious or boldly contrasting characters. In the homeware section, the buyers will get to explore the limited edition tableware in striking pinstripes color (four options) which comprises a coffee cup set, bowls, dishes, and more.

Along with the eye-popping retail store that brings a poop of color to the monotony of daily routine, Pantone has plans to stage events in the city this whole year to spread colors in people’s life which has gotten a bit dull lately. Also, they have a strategy in place to open an online store in June with all the updates coming to Issho 46’s social feed.

Designer: Pantone

Pantone’s $15 rainbow card turns your smartphone camera into a highly accurate Color-Picker

The smartphone camera is a great tool for capturing photos of things you like. It could be as direct as photos of friends, family, animals, landscapes, but it could also be photos of things that inspire you. Pantone’s latest product wants to extend your smartphone’s ability to capture items of inspiration by allowing it to turn into a real-life eye-dropper tool that can pick and identify colors with incredible, Pantone-backed accuracy!

Meet the Color Match Card… an innocuous-looking card with a grid of colored swatches and a hollow cutout in the middle. All you do is place the card on an object who’s color you want to scan and point your camera at it. The Pantone Connect app does the rest, automatically analyzing the color within the hollow cutout and giving you matching Pantone color values that you can either document or save within the Pantone Connect app or even send directly to a palette that you can access using Adobe’s suite of creative tools. The tech behind the Color Match card is pretty simple. The colorful swatches (and the tracking markers around it) help the Pantone app calibrate the way it captures colors, allowing you to accurately grab hues in all sorts of lighting conditions with great accuracy. The color swatches help the Pantone app understand what sort of lighting (warm, cool, or neutral) you’re in and white-balance the image on its own as a calibration measure. The app then scans the hue within the cutout at the center of the card, matching it with Pantone’s vast color library to give you a list of Pantone values you can easily use for your next project!

Designer: Pantone

Pantone’s board game takes a creative spin on Pictionary!

Putting Pantone’s deliciously colorful swatches to a different use, Pantone: The Game replaces the drawing element of Pictionary with the ability to depict imagery through Pantone’s color-swatches. The game comes with a set of 60 Swatch Cards in 15 different colors, and as many as 132 character cards. The gameplay is simple. Read the card and build the character using Pantone’s swatches. You can use as many as you like, but be warned… more isn’t necessarily better! Overlap cards to create unique shapes and minimalist representations and have your team members guess the answers! There are hints provided too if you’re paired with people who lack a certain artistic and creative sense… there’s always one or two of them.

Pantone: The Game is a wonderful way of combining the joy of color with the joy of gameplay. The swatches are inspired by Pantone™, the world’s leading color expert, while the question-cards feature characters from pop culture, with very distinct color palettes. For instance, below we have Donald Duck, Buzz Lightyear, Rick & Morty, and a bunch of Disney princesses!

Designer: Scott Rogers (Cryptozoic Entertainment) for Pantone

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