Pantone Color of the Year 2020

Guest post by Emma Brown from X.Rite Pantone

Cue the confetti because it’s time to celebrate the new year and reign in the new Color of the Year!

On December 5th, Pantone announced Classic Blue (Pantone 19-4052) to be the new Color of the Year for 2020. Starting back in 2000, this marks the 21st Color of the Year so far.

Pantone provides a universal language of color that enables color-critical decisions through every stage of the workflow. Pantone products and services help define, communicate and control color from inspiration to realization, leveraging advanced X-Rite technology to achieve color consistency across various materials and finishes for graphics, fashion and product design.

Every year, the Pantone Color Institute, a business unit inside Pantone, decides the new Color of the Year. The process to arrive at color selections is very thorough and dives deep into trend analysis.

Pantone color experts search the world for new influences involving color. These can be found in art, fashion, popular travel destinations, the entertainment industry, and technology.

Every year a fashion color trend report emerges with a dozen new colors. From that list a Color of the Year is chosen that forecasts what the upcoming color will be for the next year.

This year, the color Classic Blue, Pantone 19-4052, was chosen as the winner. Pantone describes the new Color of the Year as “a timeless and enduring blue hue, PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue is elegant in its simplicity. Suggestive of the sky at dusk, the reassuring qualities of the thought-provoking PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue highlight our desire for a dependable and stable foundation on which to build as we cross the threshold into a new era.” “Imprinted in our psyches as a restful color, PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue brings a sense of peace and tranquility to the human spirit, offering refuge. Aiding concentration and bringing laser-like clarity, PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue re-centers our thoughts. A reflective blue tone, Classic Blue fosters resilience.”

The Color of the Year influences trends across a wide spectrum of designers and product development in many industries, including fashion, home, industrial design, packaging, and graphic design.

If you are looking to make the Color of the Year, Classic Blue, a part of your life, you may already be noticing this color on things you own or see out in stores. Several companies are already sporting this color on products like Nike’s Adapt Huarache shoe in “Racer Blue,” Versaces’s Swiss Chain Reaction watch, and Modernica Case Study Furniture Shell Bowl Swivel chair.

However, if you need a perfect Pantone match, you can find the Color of the Year on mugs, espresso cups, notebooks, and keychains from Pantone.com. Some companies have started to partner with Pantone to showcase the perfect Classic Blue on their products. This year Pantone partnered with companies to create a sensory sensation for the Color of the Year including products in taste, touch, smell, sound, and visual.

Here are some of this year’s collaborations:

ADOBE X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
Pantone has partnered with Adobe Stock to offer a handpicked Color of the Year collection of imagery.

ARTECHOUSE X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
The nation's first digital art destination, ARTECHOUSE, creates innovative, one-of-a-kind technology-driven exhibitions and installations across the United States.

AUDIO UX X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
Audio UX, a next-gen audio branding agency, partnered with Pantone to create the sound of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue.

FEDEX OFFICE X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
Color inspires and brings storytelling to life for brands and consumers in many ways – from business cards, banners, presentations, textured graphics and much more. FedEx Office will bring PANTONE 19-4052 CLASSIC BLUE to life through the creation of a multidimensional installation within the launch experience using its state-of-the-art color matching and print technology.

FIRMENICH X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
Pantone partnered with Firmenich, the world’s largest privately-owned fragrance and flavor company. Together with Firmenich, Pantone created the essence of “taste” and “smell” of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue.

THE INSIDE X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
Pantone partnered with The Inside, a digitally native home furnishings brand, to develop a custom Color of the Year 2020 fabric that tactilely embodies the spirit of PANTONE 19-4052 Classic Blue.

LANDR X PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR
In collaboration with Audio UX, LANDR, the creative platform for musicians, worked as Pantone’s audio partner to help create The Classic Blue Sample Pack, a conceptual audio embodiment of Classic Blue that explores the multi-sensorial experience of sound and color as one.

TEALEAVES X PANTONE
Partnering with Pantone in curating colorful experiences since 2015, TEALEAVES, the luxury tea blender crafted a Classic Blue tea. The Pantone Color of the Year 2020 Tea Blend is the epitome of a perfect palate expression of the color created through the art of blending.

As we head into 2020, be on the lookout for more collaborations of companies sporting the Classic Blue Color of the Year.