The Illuminati Have Spoken: Pantone Announces 2019's Color of the Year

Get your palettes ready, Pantone’s 2019 Color of the Year is Living Coral, otherwise known as PANTONE 16–1546.

Pantone is a company famous for its color matching system, still used today across many industries from design to plastics manufacturing. Since 2000 their color consultancy, the Pantone Institute, has been choosing a Color of the Year, something that started off as a marketing whim but has become a full-blown think tank-style process. Each year a group of international experts spend nine months researching current trends, considering everything from social media platforms to current events, and then convene to debate and decide on a color.

The color of choice is released to the press with a good dose of hyperbole. In the case of Living Coral, the company proclaims it “emits the desired, familiar, and energizing aspects of color found in nature. In its glorious, yet unfortunately more elusive, display beneath the sea, this vivifying and effervescent color mesmerizes the eye and mind.”

The color is “evocative of how coral reefs provide shelter to a diverse kaleidoscope of color,” providing a refuge from a world saturated with digital technology and social media.

Color swatches have been printed, Hex and RGB values assigned, and Living Coral is racing off to the design world to be caught by anyone who feels inspired.

Silly, maybe, but a joyful trend to follow nonetheless. Check out the hashtag #COY2019 on social media to see who’s doing what this year with Living Coral.

Capicua is a full-service digital design and software agency obsessed with design trends, coral reef-themed ones included. Visit us at wearecapicua.com.