Some years it feels like Pantone is just trolling us with its Color of the Year.
For 2020, the brand (presciently) predicted good ol' Classic Blue would be the 2020 hue to hype. This year, the color is...two colors? And one is called Ultimate Gray?
So yes, Pantone did name Ultimate Gray and Illuminating yellow (it hurts my editor brain that "yellow" is not part of the name, but "Gray" is) as the dual Colors of the Year. But the gray isn't meant to presage a grim year ahead so much as to represent nature and fortitude.
My Adweek colleague Sara Spary writes that the yellow has been selected for its “sparkling” vivacity and “solar power,” while the gray has been chosen for its connotations with “solid and dependable elements” like pebbles on a beach that stand the test of time.
You can read much more and see lots of examples in Sara's writeup about the announcement.
Any initial confusions aside about the meanings of the colors, I will say it's a nice color combo and certainly in sync with design trends we've seen on the rise recently.
What's your take on Ultimate Gray and Illuminating yellow? And which color (or colors) would you have picked for 2021? I'd love to hear your thoughts via the email below or at @Griner on Twitter.
Yours in ultimate grayness,
David Griner
Creative and Innovation Editor, Adweek
David.Griner@Adweek.com
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