2021 Pantone Color of the Year: Illuminating & Ultimate Gray

It is that time of year when the powers-that-be at Pantone choose a color to represent the upcoming year. This year, after the dumpster fire that was 2020 Pantone has chosen 2 colors!

Here’s what they say about it. 

“A marriage of color conveying a message of strength and hopefulness that is both enduring and uplifting.” Pantone website

How are these colors chosen you may ask.

I like to think of it as a secret society with creepy hoods in a dark basement who do some sort of ritual to come up with the new colors. But in actuality, there are a bunch of data nerds all over the world that study trends in fashion, entertainment, films, and worldwide events to get to our yearly color trend. They take stock of our current world and analyze the heck out of it and give us a color, or two, that represents that feeling.

The secret society bit is that all these representatives get together in a secret location, present their ideas, debate, and choose the color.

I really hope they have special robes or at least a password to get into the room.

This is only the 2nd time that the fashion color reps have picked more than 1 color for their color of the year since 2000. Rose Quartz & Serenity were chosen in 2016.

My take

Overall I like this combination of colors. The yellow is bright enough that it does come across as cheerful and optimistic but not Neon and in your face. My general clothing palette is black, white, and gray so I am always down for a good neutral. 

These colors are part of the overall Color Trends palette for Spring 2021. My favorites are the Illuminating Yellow, French Blue and Raspberry Sorbet. I can’t wait to see how I can incorporate these in my artwork this season.