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Pantone, the color authority, announces its color of the year every December and this year was no exception. The 2023 color of the year is Viva Magenta – 18-1750 in the color matching system –a vivid shade that comes from nature. According to the company’s website, this powerful and empowering animated red encourages experimentation, welcomes all, and has a bit of a rebellious streak.
Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute wrote: “In this age of technology, we look to draw inspiration from nature and what is real. PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta descends from the red family, and is inspired by the red of cochineal, one of the most precious dyes belonging to the natural dye family as well as one of the strongest and brightest the world has known.”
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A Color for the Times
Viva Magenta was picked as the color vanguard for the new year to be uplifting as the world is trying to get back to normal following years of the coronavirus pandemic, reported CNN. Last years’ color was a calming shade of blue.
“We are living in quite the unconventional time. The only thing that has become conventional is the unconventionality of it,” Eiseman told CNN. "While there have been so many things that have played into our thinking, so many things that have influenced and impacted what's taken place and the changes we've had to make, there's no doubt that the overriding influence has been Covid.”
Pantone Color Institute
Best known for the Pantone Matching System and the formula guide which has been used to identify and match colors in the printing, graphic design, paint, and fashion industries. The color institute was founded two decades after the company in 2000, according to NPR, and has been naming colors of the year ever since.
The selection process includes taking a world view and looking at everything from entertainment, travel, culture, and socioeconomics to analyze and predict trends. This year the emphasis was an appreciation of nature and florals that began during the lockdowns when people spent more time at home. Viva Magenta fit this trend well because of its organic origins.
The announcement of the color of the year in early December was followed by the opening of a new exhibit in Miami, Florida that has been called the “Magentaverse,” it explores the dynamics that exist between human creativity and AI, reported CNN. The exhibit contains visual, tactile and auditory experiences linked to Viva Magenta.
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The Power of Color
The Magentaverse is already here as Pantone has partnered with many companies to release shoes, cell phones, throw pillows, and even wallpaper in this vivid shade.
But pantone isn’t trying to promote a color according to Laurie Pressman, the vice president of the Pantone Color Institute. She told NPR that the color of the year aims to help companies understand the power that colors have.
“It is a visual language we all understand, one whose message crosses genders, generations, and geographies,” Pressman said. “Learning more about the unique meanings particular colors give voice to helps us to be a more expressive, closely connected society, one that provides people with a more holistic understanding of their peers and communities alike.”
So add a splash of magenta to your life and celebrate the power of color to bring resilience and healing to the world in 2023.
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