Pantone has named 16-1546 Living Coral as its Color of the Year 2019, which it describes as an animating and life-affirming shade of orange with a golden undertone that encourages lighthearted activity.
The Living Coral shade comes from Pantone’s Fashion, Home + Interiors Color System and I know the more cynical readers will assume this is a neat marketing ploy guaranteed to get Pantone some coverage at the end of every year, and to sell yet more of its eponymous guides. But Pantone supposedly chooses its colour of the year based upon things that have influenced colour, which might include the entertainment industry, traveling art collections, new lifestyles, and socio-economic conditions as well as new technologies, materials, textures and even up-coming sporting events.
Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, commented: “With consumers craving human interaction and social connection, the humanising and heartening qualities displayed by the convivial Pantone Living Coral hit a responsive chord.”
The hope, of course, is that designers will make use of this shade in new products such as interior furnishings. Pantone’s press release helpfully points out that ‘Pantone Living Coral adds a dramatic pop of colour to any room setting whether in decorative accessories, tabletop, or on the wall.’ Other benefits include encouraging people to ‘reach out and touch’ packaging, while giving ‘humanising and heartening characteristics’ to product design.
This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the first colour of the year, so Pantone has released limited-edition Pantone Color of the Year 2019 Formula Guides and Fashion, Home + Interiors Color Guides in celebration.
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